Relentless Grace: I'm 17. No, wait, I'm 43.

Sometimes, I wonder how I got this old. I'm closer to 30 than 20. It takes effort to stay awake past 10:30. I'm getting wrinkles. I have gray hair. Not a lot, but enough that I've stopped plucking it out of my head. A girl at an after-school program I volunteer for asked me, "Miss Jenna, why don't you act like a kid anymore?" because I wouldn't slide down an angled concrete slab.

Sometimes, I wonder why I can't grow up as fast as other folks around me. I still fidget incessantly. I would rather eat cereal/mac&cheese/popcorn for dinner than 'real food'. I never remember to send birthday cards. And I still break out. Real zits, people. Like you had when you were 17. Only now it's weird that I still need to use as much coverup as I do.

I think it seriously unfair that I currently have gray hair and zits. Really? Both? Must my head exhibit my split-age personality so clearly?

If I'm going to get gray hair can I not have some wisdom as well? And if my face looks like I'm 17, can't the rest of my body follow suit?