A Funny Story

I have a funny story to tell you.
On Wednesday we went to our cell group (Bible study group). In the house where we meet there are three children- all girls. The middle one (Alexis) decided she was going to sit by me this week and we were going to chat.
First I need to tell you a little bit about her. She is five years old, but she seems older than that. She is tall for her age and the way she speaks and acts make it seem as though she is older than five. When she speaks to you, she is very assertive, almost confrontational, in everything that she says. You feel like you need to defend yourself or at least, explain yourself, when you are having a conversation with her. Don’t get me wrong, she is a delightful little girl, but can be rather intense when she is questioning you.
So Alexis decided to sit beside me this week. After we had chatted a bit, she pointed right at my face and said firmly, “I want to go to your house!” I told her that the apartment where we stay was very near to her house, only three gates away, and she was welcome to come anytime.
She then asked me, again very assertively, “Do you have children?” I explained to her that my children are very big and they do not live in Uganda. She gave me a puzzled look so I tried explaining that to her again. Still, no. So I decided to take a different approach- I told her I have grandies (grandchildren), but she still didn’t seem to understand what I was trying to get at.
I then told her, “I am JaJja (grandma)”. She got this funny look on her face, then she started to look like she was getting angry, she pointed at my head and demanded, “WHERE IS YOUR GRAY HAIR?” The entire room burst out laughing and she just looked rather indignant. I know that she did not believe me and I am sure that she is rather annoyed with me that I would tell her something so outrageous! In Uganda, if you are a Jajja, you are “old” and you have gray hair.
Later on in the evening, I shared that Greg and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary very soon.  One of the guys in the group said, “What? I thought you were only about 35 years old.” (He wasn’t there yet when the previous conversation took place.)
I think maybe we do need to stay here afterall- I often get told that I look like I am early to mid 30s. My kids just laughed when they were here and keep telling me that I must have found the fountain of youth- yep it is in Uganda if anyone is looking for it!