ages

i lied to my son. it started innocently enough; back when he was learning to converse with others, i thought it would be fun to teach him his family members' ages. when anyone asked how old he was, he'd proudly answer, "twoooo!" and then follow up with, "and susanna is 5 months, and spider is 6, and daddy is 31" -- and here's the kicker -- "and mommy is 25!" anyone who knew me well would laugh, since, of course, i'm not 25. (okay ... everyone would laugh, even if they didn't know me well. is it that much of a stretch that i could've been born in the 1980s?) this past sunday was my father's birthday. there happened to be a somewhat large crowd to celebrate: the four of us, both my parents, my grandfather, and my sister, who was visiting from california. as we were enjoying cake, we asked liam if he knew how old everyone at the table was. sure enough, he had all the right answers, all the way up to his pop-pops, who's 85. he then also correctly informed us of how old we will all be on our next birthday, adding one to each of the numbers he had previously recited. when he got to me, i realized that it was finally time for me to come clean. "no, honey ... that's not quite right. on my next birthday," i said, "i will still be 25."