When Did I Get Old???

As I approach my 30th birthday I am increasingly more aware that I am out of touch with the "in" things of today's youth. Today I was at the Galleria and needed to get some gift certificates for my male teenage cousins at the trendy shop called Hollister (Belen, if you're reading this don't spill the secret, please!!).

I have never ventured inside this store. Any store where you don't see much light coming from the inside and has shutters instead of display windows means people over 21 are not welcome. It's one of those stores where it's depressing to try anything on because the size you normally wear is unusually small because the clothes are shrunken to be "teen-sized". I faced the mysterious facade knowing I had to go in. So, pushing my little guy in the stroller, I hold my breath and pass through the dark doors into the world of Hollister.

First, it's obviously NOT stroller friendly in there. I'm running over mannequins and displays left and right. Oopsie! 'Scuse me! Sorry! Second, there is almost no lighting. How do people shop in here when you have to squint to see the clothes, squint to see the price tag. Third, the music is so loud I seriuosly debate wether to pull out some tissue and stuff it in my son's ears. I look around skeptically and finally make it to the counter where a young guy who looks like he spent more time drying and styling his hair than I did is ready to help me buy gift certificates. As I'm looking at my gift card choices there are only two options: One has a half dressed woman and man locked in a romance-novel-cover embrace and the other choice has a half dressed man showcasing his six-pack abs. I look at the well-coiffed young man and say "Do you have any gift certificates that don't have naked people on them?" The moment the words came out of my mouth I felt 100 years old. "Nope", he says, those are the only two choices. Ay-ya-yai! I am in a hipster clothing store, pushing a stroller, asking a guy with perfectly made hair for a more modest-looking gift card?! Is this the face of (almost) 30?