"And I was at Bloomingdale's this morning waiting on line to buy wrinkle cream, and this Jennifer-Love-Michelle-Sarah-Felicity looking thing bumps into me and says, 'Excuse me, ma'am'." - Grace Adler

Lately, I've decided I can sympathize with Grace. Every day, at least 15 times I day, I hear "Miss Van Hee...". Now, I am thrilled that most of our high school athletes have finally learned my name but every time I hear it lately, it shocks me. I'm never really quite sure I should answer. Am I really a Miss? I always just look at them stunned for a minute until I realize that the Miss Van Hee they are talking to is me. My mom used to say to all my friends, "Please call me Linda. Ms. Van Hee is my mother-in-law." How goofy, I thought. You've been Ms. Van Hee for years! I try to remind myself that for 29 years I have been Miss Van Hee, also. So why is it so startling that the "Miss Van Hee" they are speaking to is me?

Somehow, I have evolved into those people in high school I thought were really old. I do remember saying once that 30 was "really old". I was 8. To an 8 year-old 30 is well, old. As in almost time to leave this earth old. Please write out your will and don't forget to put me in it, old. Or If you die, do I still have to come to class? old. Now, I AM that old person!!!! As I've said before, working in a high school constantly reminds me of being in high school. I remember things that happened, crushes I had, sitting in classes. I remember the tension of getting tests back, the struggle to fit in and find your place and how very out-of-it our teachers and principals seemed. To me, it seems like just yesterday, not the 12 years ago it actually was. How did we get from "just yesterday" to old? More importantly, how do we convince ourselves that it wasn't just yesterday AND, still keep the idea that we are not old? Most of the teachers/coaches I am friendly with are younger than me. Not by much, a couple years, but still younger. The kids love them, and yet I bet they sometimes think "My Gosh, they are so old!".

I've decided for this reason, I shouldn't get married any time soon. (Not that there's prospects, but the ideas there...sometime, I would be married.) If I have such a hard time adjusting to being called by my OWN name, imagine trying to answer to one that's new! :) Plus, as the old saying goes, it's hard teaching old dogs new tricks. Well, I'd better run. I think my mom's here. I hear someone yelling for "Miss Van Hee".