Do I Finally Look My Age?

Once in 5th grade, after a High School basketball game, I accidentally wondered into a High School dance, where I was asked if I was a freshman.

My High School offered two-years of Spanish. One day a sophomore, seeing me leave first-year Spanish, asked, "Bender, why are you taking first-year Spanish as a senior?" I replied, "I'm a junior." And he said, "Oh, really??"

Start of my senior year, not just students but faculty came up to me and asked, "Didn't you graduate last year?" I had to explain that I was not a super-senior, that I wasn't held back, that I was in fact only 17.

On my mission, only 19, some Puerto Ricans would ask if I had a wife and children back home and expressed incredulity that I was still a teenager.

The Chinese and the Mexicans would likewise express surprise to learn I was only in my lower-to-mid twenties.

Fresh out of college and working as a substitute teacher, the students would ask, "Mr. Bender, how old are you?" I'd ask back, "How old do I look?" And invariably the answer would vary from "35" to "40."

Yet as of late, when I'm asked the same question and I shoot back, "How old do I look?" the questioner will look at me thoughtfully and say, "26 or 27," which for once is spot on.

So when did I finally start looking my age?