She really is a quarter-of-a-century old.

My sister looks unbelievably young. Jailbait, middle school young. My fourteen year old daughter looks older. She always gets carded. Not a cursory glance at the ID, thankyouverymuch carded, but "Just a second, I'll be right back" carded. Sometimes there's a manager involved. No one takes her seriously. No one. Store clerks, police officers, school officials. No one at my kids' schools ever wants to hand my children over to her. She gets asked out by high schoolers and grown men tend to bypass her (that whole jailbait thing). E can wear make up, heels, flat iron her hair - still she looks like she's been playing in Mommy's closet.
Everyone tells her that she'll be thankful later that she looks so young. They complement her skin and tell her how lucky she is.
But this rant isn't about her, it's about me.
I am 35. I don't look 35 - I, too, look younger. Unless my baby sister is standing next to me and then I look like her mother. I think that's why I never get hit on either. What's scarier than a single mom with three kids?..........a single mom with four kids.
The other day, my sister, Dad, and I were out together. The clerk at Pearle thought Dad, another one who looks young for his age (I'm telling you, these are some fantastic genes!), was my husband and that E was our teenage daughter.
Now, tonight, she's asked me to meet her and some work friends for a drink. At least, this is a bar she frequents and we'll be able to avoid the police. Unless, of course, someone mistakes me for her mother.