"Sorry.... question mark"

There once was a girl who went on a date with a boy to a land of wonderful Thai cuisine.  She winked and smiled, twirled and flipped, leaning in to show of her interest.  He talked about his life, his job and his studies and family memories which all made him smile.  She shared her interests and hobbies and skills in hopes they would continue their lovely banter.  He continued to impress her with his wit and his sincerity, even down to his nervous energy.... well that was until about 15 minutes into the date when something rather peculiar began....

"So how does your food taste, dot, dot, dot?"

"Um...my food tastes really good, thank you for picking this place."

"That's good!  I love this place!  So how was work?"

"It was really stressful today, I'm so glad it is over!"

"Ya that's no fun, sorry question mark"

"Um that's ok?  I guess that happens at work from time to time right?"

"Does it, dot, dot, dot..."

Yeah.... you get the picture.  Try to imagine if you will how utterly annoying it is for someone to continually SPEAK their punctuation!  Yes, SPEAK IT.  It got to the point where I was ticking down the minutes with every spoken punctuation until I could get out of there!  It was like watching a bad impression of Victor Borge's comedy sketch and I was strapped by etiquette to my seat! I wish I could say that punctuation guy and I did not go out again, but alas, I did indeed commit to another date.  And honestly, the punctuation thing hasn't been as bad as it was the first time... the problem lay elsewhere with this poor guy, but that is a discussion for another day.....

For those of you who too young to  know who Victor Borge is, here is the link for your understanding... a rose is a rose even if it's old enough to know Victor Borge..... :)

A rose by any other age....

After a recent move to the uncharted wilds of Utah, I have been interested in the inexplicable preoccupation with my age.  Yes, I know I am closing in on the infamous 30, but when did this become of public concern??  So it has motivated me to confront this glaring issue and ask:  Who the heck cares what my age is??  I've come to find that it's not so much the question or the age that bothers me, it's more of the sympathetic tilt of the head and the response "but you are so cute" that usually comes after my response to the question that really gets under my skin.  Should I be less cute because I am now closer to 30 than 20?  This makes no sense to me.  Or is it that the general population believes only not cute people should be able to make it to 30 without being married?

I took this question to my co-worker, a 24 year old single male, who simply stated: "Women are like wine, they get better with age."  Now, I know he meant this to be a compliment but I couldn't help but think that this was also not an acceptable way of looking at things.  So should I wait till I am 40 before I am good enough to be had???  No!  Either way you look at it, there is stigma with the age.  Either I am too old to be single, or not old enough to be sweet.... make up your mind world!

I am simply a tweener roaming the world in between being too old and not old enough.  Too old for the sweet, non-jaded early 20-somethings, and not old enough to be a cougar.  After much thought regarding this, I have determined to challenge this concept of how old is too old or not old enough with my own declaration:

"A rose by any other age would still smell as sweet."

So to anyone who asks my age I will simply remind them that it does not matter!  Regardless if I am 23 or 33, I would still smell as sweet and still be me.... so take it or leave it!