If there is one thing that bugs me, it is when people tell me I look young. A few weeks ago, a pharmacist asked me if I was 16 so I could sign for my prescription. She was basically implying that I could be 15. (She was off by roughly a decade, btw.) About a week later, I was buying some baby and toddler clothes at a thrift store, when the clerk asked if they were for my siblings. I told her they were for my kids and her jaw dropped. I don't think she even realized what kind of a look she had given me. I asked her how old she thought I was and she told me 16. There was also the time when I went to a women's Bible study and the women asked me what high school I went to. Or how about when we first moved to California and a parent of a youth group I was helping out with asked if I was a new jr. high student. (I was pregnant in both situations, ha.)I know, I know. This will be great when I'm older but can you imagine being asked this constantly or worse -- being looked at when you are pregnant or have kids in tow? I don't think it's necessarily the fact that I'm being told I'm young that bothers me. I think it's more so that what I can see written on other people's faces in other situations is confirmed when I am asked for basic things, like prescriptions. It's the look I get from an older woman when I'm sitting with Kaiden at a fast food restaurant. It's the conversation between two people while looking at me and my kids in the grocery store. Or today, for instance, an older woman at our campground talked down to me about something stupid and I know for a fact she wouldn't have said what she did had I appeared to be older. This happens constantly and honestly, it makes me feel very self conscious. I'd like to think that I'm reading too much into things but when you have a pregnant belly and you are being asked if you are a new jr. high student at a youth group, than I think it's safe to say that I can bet my intuition is right. I hate purposefully keeping my head down to avoid the observing, judgemental eyes. I hate not feeling confident in who I am as a person. I hate that this insecurity translates into my roles as a mom and even as a photographer/business owner.I understand I got married young and I had kids at a yonng age, but as much as I tell myself not to care, I can't shake it. I genuinely want to (and try to) not care what people think. And I know I don't need to prove myself to anyone -- especially strangers. At the heart of it all, I guess I just want to be taken seriously. Perhaps, it's a pride issue that I just need to get over? I'm not sure if any of what I wrote makes sense but I just had to vent. Can anyone else relate?Even so, I'm incredibly encouraged by 1 Timothy 4:12, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."