Just Like a Teenager

On Tuesday one of the girls in my Sunday School class, Becca, a delightfully bouncy 10-year-old, gave me what must have been a heart-felt compliment.

She introduced me to a friend by saying, "This is her! This is Sister Thacker!" By her friend's response, I could tell Becca has talked about me before. In glowing terms. And it made me feel very uncomfortable. I can do respect, but unabashed admiration is harder to cope with. I said, "What's up?" and gave her my by-now-signature upwards nod and Rock On sign.

As her friend stared at me in something like awe and I tried to think of the best response (I wanted to run away or laugh or just say, "Stop that!", but all of those seemed inappropriate. I decided to just do nothing), Becca continued, "She's my favorite teacher ever! She acts just like a teenager and she's 29!"

I smiled at that. As Becca and her friend ran off to do whatever it is 10-year-olds do, I mumbled to myself and the other adult woman standing there, "I'm not sure that's a compliment."

In reality, I'm only 28. And I don't think I act "just like a teenager." But then again, maybe I do. Signature upwards nod and Rock On sign submitted as piece of evidence #1.

This has me thinking. About what it is I do that makes me "just like a teenager" to her. I mean, I raise 3 kids and cook dinner and clean house and organize 5 people's lives. I don't send text messages or "speak" text languages. I don't attempt to dress immodestly and call it acceptable. And I have long ago stopped worrying about if Joe and Jane Cool think I'm in the "in" crowd. Clearly: not a teenager.

But I make it a point to be ridiculously casual when the time does not call for it. I'm just as random as the girls I teach (as evidenced by the fact that we often get nothing accomplished for an entire hour), and I refuse to take a hard line on discipline towards them. And while I don't speak text, I do say a lot of non-professional words and phrases like, "what up?" "sup?" "whatever" "it's cool" "rock on" and "hey". I sometimes show up to class and say, "I didn't feel like preparing a lesson this week, so I didn't," and then we'll just goof off and have a brief spiritual thought and call it good. Clearly: teenager.

While I'm trying to take it how she meant it--as a sincere compliment, maybe one of the best compliments she could think of--I'm wondering if I should "grow up" a little.

Oh well. So long as no 50-year-olds start saying that I act just like a teenager, I guess I'm okay.