Card-Carrying Adult

I am twenty-five. I have been a legal adult for seven years, and old enough to buy alcohol and cigarettes for four years. But I do not drink, and I do not smoke or vape, so I have never bought them. Full, legal adult for several years, and yet, I still have moments like this one.

My mom and I stopped at the gas station where my mom worked. We both went inside, me to get an icee, and Mom to get cigarettes. Mom asked for the cigarettes, was IDed, and [Cashier] slid the cigarettes across the counter towards us. I picked them up because Mom was fighting with her wallet to put away the change. Then I “remember” that I’m underage and can’t have cigarettes.

Me: *Holds out cigarette pack to [Mom] when she puts her wallet away.* “Here, I’m not supposed to carry these.”

The cashier, who knows I’m twenty-five because my mom worked there, and because we knew each other personally, just stares.

My mom, who has known me since my birth TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, also stares. She slowly takes the cigarette pack from my hand.

Mom: “You do remember you’re twenty-five, right? You can buy cigarettes.”

Me: *Having completely forgotten that I’m twenty-five, and therefore able to buy cigarettes.*  “…oh, yeah. Right.”

This is an ongoing issue. It’s one thing to be mistaken for younger (I’m regularly mistaken for a middle schooler due to baby-face and having stopped growing at 5’0″ and 110lb at 13) but it’s another thing to mistake MYSELF as younger.