They sent us a kid!

The title for this post is a reference to one resident's response on my first day at Bethany Towers. Today I attended a corporate event where I was required to stand up and introduce myself as the administrator of Bethany Towers. At the end of the event a woman came up to me and said, "We need you to settle something for us which was the topic of conversation at our table...how old are you?" After telling them that I was 31, another woman exclaimed, "I told you!" She had guessed 32, however most of the guesses ranged between 22-26. The woman who asked me immediately tried to console me by telling me how my youthful appearance would pay off later. The truth is I really didn't need her consoling. She wasn't saying anything that I hadn't heard on countless occasions. If I got offended anybody thought I was younger than I really was, I would lead a very sad existence. Almost as sad as if I got upset at people who didn't know how to spell Shaun. It did remind of some other funny experiences. Here are a few of my favorites.

While on my mission a lady said it was so impressive to see that I would leave my country and family at such a young age and added, "what are you? 15, 16 years old?" I was almost 21.

A few years ago while completing my final semester of my masters program I was attending a luncheon. One of the attendees asked me what my major was. When I explained that I was about to complete my masters in gerontology she stated, "oh. I thought you were a freshman." I was almost 28.

While working as the director of resident services I went to check on a new resident to make sure they had everything they needed. After introducing myself the resident's daughter said, "what are you? 18?" "I'm 29. Now was there anything that I could do to assist you?"

Last year I had multiple conversations with a plumber over the phone discussing a problem we were having. When he finally came to inspect the problem, I went over to greet him. "You're Shaun?!" He stammered for the next 2 minutes explaining how I was not at all what he expected. "When you said you were the administrator I guess I expected somebody...well you know...older."

My all time favorite was the employee at the corporate finance department. We had emailed and called each other several times over the course of the first six months of me being at Bethany Towers. One day I happened to be at corporate and stopped by to introduce myself. This particular employee saw me, turned to one of my employees who happened to be with me and said, "your boss is a kid!" Knowing my true age my employee said, "He's older than he looks." "Really, what is his secret?" he asked. "He doesn't drink, and he doesn't smoke." "Oh. Never mind. I'd rather look old."

Some day I may look my age...or at least old enough to be doing my job, but I'm ok if that day isn't any time soon. It's way more fun this way. Besides, if I started to look my age people might expect me to act it too. Well, I have to get going. I have a planning meeting with all the mid single adult representatives from church for the Southern California area. I am the new Mid Single Adult Co-chair representing singles in my stake between the ages of 31-45. This should be interesting.

UPDATE: I guess I looked old enough in my MSA meeting because they asked me to be on the steering committee for the MSA Greater Los Angeles Corridor which includes about 44 stakes. We will be planning large joint activities for all the MSA in this region.