Most people my age

As I lay in bed at 11:24pm, wide awake thanks to my second wind, I am worried about how my 2nd night in a row with less than 5 hours of sleep will affect me. And this has led me to the following thought:

Most people my age get to act my age. I, on the other hand, do not.

Let me explain.

I am a high school teacher. Therefore, I have no life.

- Most people my age get to enjoy happy hour. While classes are officially over by 2:15, leaving before 4 or 5 is a huge accomplishment. If I leave that early, it means that either I have hours of grading or planning ahead, or I am sick and I need sleep in order to recover. So much for socializing with my peers.

- On the topic of socializing, most people my age spew ridiculous information in order to impress the opposite sex, fully knowing that what they are saying is absolutely ridiculous, but likely to result in at least a little bit of flirtation. My students just say ridiculous things because their ages range from 14-18.

- Most people my age can shop at more than 3 or 4 stores. If I shop somewhere trendy, say H&M for instance, it is likely I will match one of my freshmen girls the next day. If I shop at somewhere a bit more upscale, like Club Monaco, the clothes are too revealing. Basically, I am left shopping at Gap and Banana Republic (which carry the exact same clothes since they are the same store), or J. Crew and Ann Taylor (at least they both provide 20% discounts for teachers). How thrilling can a 26 year old get?

- Some people my age even date! Crazy, right? Believe it or not, I tried once this year. One of my co-workers set me up with this great guy. Too bad the date was on a Friday night. I think we would have hit it off pretty well, but I was so exhausted from a long week of school and other commitments (which, by the way, made me almost an hour late for the date!) that I barely had the energy to make it through dinner. Needless to say, I haven't heard from him since.

And if it wasn't approximately 3 hours past my bedtime (yes, I tend to go to bed between 8:30-9, regardless of the day of the week) I probably could come up with many other reasons why I feel like a 42 year old woman.