Truth be told, if I wanted to, I could probably walk into any high school in the U.S. and more than likely pass for a freshman or sophomore, even if I was wearing makeup. I just turned 20 and I definitely don't look it. For example, recently on vacation I had to sign a form to go snorkeling with my family. The woman at the kiosk asked how old I was, to which I replied truthfully, "I'm 20." Immediately she asked to see my license, "just to verify," but she assured me that it was "strictly policy." However, she didn't even blink when my brother went up to her and told her his age. Plus, she did not ask for his license. Yeah, "strictly policy." I bet. Then again my brother could pass for at least 22 when he grows his beard out.

Why me? It wasn't like I drank any different type of water that had magical powers to make me look ridiculously young forever. Growing up I never thought I looked any younger or older than my friends, though then again that was before eighth grade when I stopped growing taller and all my friends got their growth spurts. However, I was still hopeful. I mean a five-foot, braces-wearing
freshman in high school was normal! I looked like I was 15 years old, because I was.

I can't remember when it started to go south, but it was like all of the sudden I looked my age and the next day every 16-year-old in the world decided to look different. Clearly, I missed the memo. However, despite the struggle that is my everyday life, it does make for some very entertaining stories that I am going to share with you:

When I was 16 I got in my first car accident. I know, I know it's the classic fresh-with-the-license mess-up story. Anyway, it wasn't that bad, but it was my fault. I rear-ended someone and completely destroyed the front end of my car. The horn was honking, I was in the middle of a busy intersection, my face newly bruised from the air bag hitting it and what is the first thing the police officer says to me when he arrives to the scene?

"Excuse me, but you have to be 16 years old in the State of Kansas to legally drive a car without being accompanied by an adult 21 or older."

Here I am, crying, because 1) I felt horrible: I had single-handedly ruined someone's day by not paying close enough attention and rear-ending them, and 2) I knew I was so grounded it wasn't even funny. So I looked up at him, tears streaming down my cheeks and said, "What are you talking about? I am 16..."

He immediately fumbled with his words and muttered out, "Oh, well this happens all the time with teenagers getting into accidents I just wanted to make sure uhh...can I see your license please?"

Which, yep, he saw with his own eyes that yes I, in fact, was 16 years old and he was definitely wrong.

With all that behind me, I figured it was just a fluke. A minor incident of pure overlooking! Yeah, no, I was wrong. The stories get much worse than that. Looking back now I guess I could see where I did look on the young side in high school. I hardly ever wore makeup and when I did it wasn't nearly enough to drastically change my appearance to somewhat age appropriate, which is why I shouldn't be surprised that entering college would make much of a difference.

This past summer I was visiting my boyfriend and it just so happened to be 7/11 that day. Which, yes if you're familiar with this date it is in fact international slushy day so, of course, we had to go to 7/11 and get slushies. We did just that: my boyfriend, his little sister, who is a sophomore in high school, and I went to go get slushies and who do we happen to see there? Oh yes, one of his old teammates on his football team from high school! And my boyfriend, being the gentleman that he is, introduces me to him and what does he say? "So are you gonna be a sophomore in high school with his sister too?"

If I could have poured the slushy on my head and made myself look at least 18, I totally would have done it. I was sort of in disbelief at what he said, even though I really shouldn't have been surprised. I digress though, I know you're all curious to know if my boyfriend corrected him or not and yes he did. After he finished cracking up about it, he told his friend, "Oh, no this is my girlfriend..." Which upon hearing that, his friend immediately covered his mouth and chuckled to himself and said, "Oh I'm sorry, my bad!" I felt bad, so I reassured him with the truth, "It's OK! It happens all the time."

I saved the best for last, don't worry. My family was coming home from a trip over winter break and I had just opened our garage when I see a woman and her daughter walking up the sidewalk, about to walk past our house. I quickly walked into my garage and opened the door to my house only to have my dog burst out of the house and start running. I scrambled to get her back into the house because she has a tendency to bite others and I could see the little girl walking down our driveway as soon as she saw my dog. I successfully got her into the house and turned towards the woman and girl, who were almost inside my garage now, and as I was telling them my dog bites, otherwise they could have pet her, the little girl yells, "We're selling Girl Scout cookies!"

"How cute," I thought! She's selling Girl Scout cookies, I used to do the same thing when I was her age. So, I walked up to her and her mom and asked her what troop she was from and then what school her troop was with. She answered them and then her mom looked at me, and in all seriousness, asked, "So is your elementary school Girl Scout troop selling cookies too?"

Yes, you read that correctly. She legitimately thought I was in elementary school... I'm a sophomore in college. I'm used to getting 14, 16 or 18 for potential guesses of my age, but I have to say being considered to be an elementary school student's age as a 20-year-old was probably the lowest of lows, literally and figuratively.

If I could change my appearance or height to appear older, I probably wouldn't, because then I wouldn't have all these stories to share with y'all and my life wouldn't be the same, and I kind of like how it's going right now. I have no doubt that someday I could write an entire book about situations like these, and with that I look forward to all the embarrassing "ridiculously young" stories to come. Who knows though, with my luck this article could have a "part two" by next week! However, there you have it folks, the true story of what it's like to be a girl who looks ridiculously young and it's a funny one might I add, so thanks for laughing with me.