You know you're old when...

The other night when my mom and I went to the Rascal Flatts concert, we had a 15 year old neighbor girl come over to babysit Autumn. It was so nice to go to the concert and not have to worry about Autumn at all b/c I knew she was in good hands. Anyways, my mom asked Josee (the babysitter) how much the going rate for babysitters are these days. She said usually between $4 to $5 an hour. My mom thought that was SO MUCH, and I thought that was pretty cheap. My mom said she remembers babysitting and cleaning the house for 25 cents an hour. I remember paying a girl to watch Autumn $10/hour on Wednesday nights while Jason had class. So funny how much changes in just about 20 years.

But the real thing that hit home to me and made me feel old was when I took Josee home after the concert. I remember babysitting all the time for other people when I was a teenager. I was always having people ask me to babysit b/c I was so dang good at it and would take little games to play and stories to read. I remember my mom making me a little babysitting bag when I was about 12 years old, and I thought that was the coolest present in the whole world. I would always take really good care of the kids and I'd even clean whoever's house I was babysitting at as well.

Anyways, I remember it was either really awkward or really cool when whoever I was babysitting for would take me home after babysitting (back when I couldn't drive yet). Either the wife or husband would take me home, and I usually preferred it to be the wife b/c we'd have more to talk about. If it was the husband, it was usually a ride home in awkward silence or else it was puncuated with a few obligatory questions asked such as, "how's school?"

So when I took Josee home it hit me that I am now that mom who is taking the babysitter home. I suddenly felt a lot of pressure to be "cool" and make good conversation. Let me just say now that I blew it horribly, which is sad since it was only about a 5 mintue ride. I asked all the lame questions like, "Are you excited for school to start up?" "Any fun plans for the weekend?" And then after that I froze. Which is even more sad since her family and my family have been friends for over 10 years. But with my new position of being the "old" lady that was driving the babysitter home, I didn't know what to do. I'd always thought of the people I babysat for as so "old" and "mature" and I was never going to be almost 30 with kids...that just seemed so far away. Well, it was smacking me right in between the eyes like David's rock hit Goliath.

So that little moment him time just made me realize how old I really am. I've turned into one of "them." But it's really not that bad. I don't feel OLD. But now I know I've got to work on my "taking-the-babysitter-home conversation" so I'm not one of the people I used to dread driving me home when I used to babysit.

Any pointers or suggestions on how to be the "cool" mom to babysit for?