My father was "salt and pepper" ever since I can remember (which would put him around 40), and my my mother wasn't fully "salt" even when she died (at *about* 80 -- nobody ever knew her exact birth-year), despite my being a "difficult child"; I waited with baited breath to see whose genes I inherited, and it seems my mother wins; at 54.5, I still have *no* silver enhancing my mouse-colured head...
Like Ruth, I too used to be small and young-looking until about 30 (after that, I was just small; *my* woes "came out" in the face, not on top of my head <g>). My Mother used to ket a kick (and embarassed me no end -- that's where I got the idea of how to embarass my own offspring <g>) out of taking me with her to the cinema, and refusing to show the proof I *was* of age to see a film ("As her mother, I'll take the responsibility for her possible demoralisation", she'd say to the stodgy ticket-takers). I used to *writhe*, when not only I, but all the people with me as well, were evicted from a caffee/wine cellar for "lack of age" -- there were times when I was refused even *coffee* -- never mind a beer -- and I was 21; 3 yrs past the official drinking age...
But my two most memorable "triumphs"(?) came after I came to US...
1) I was almost 29, when my DH asked me to buy a sixpack (of beer) for him at a drugstore. I was told to take a hike (the toddler on my hip? "These days, children have children; it's no proof" was the response), and he ended up buying his beer himself, as I had nothing to prove my age (didn't learn to drive till I was 40, so had no license)
2) I was -- almost <g> -- "picked up" by a teenager on a beach. Since Danek was about 5 then, I must have been 32 or so. We were looking for interesting shells, when a "male person, of about 16", came up from behind, and tried to "chat me up"... I turned around, and he re-thought (but didn't *faint*; perfect manners to the bitter end; must have been Virginia born-and-bred <g>)... In Poland, we used to have a saying which described the situation precisely: "z tylu: liceum; z przodu: muzeum" (from the back: a high school; from the front: a museum). Given that my DH (Danek's father) is 25yrs my *senior*, that encounter had me in whoops for *weeks* (though I did my best to immitate a VA born-and-bred person myself, and *did not* laugh in the poor boy's face) <g>
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
