IS THIS STILL FUNNY?

Last week I made a coffee house purchase of a coffee and scone. The perky blonde high schooler behind the counter rang my purchase and annouced with a giggle and covered mouth, "$4.20". My eye contact with her was a mixture of passive understanding at her giggle and part question of her brand of humor. I get it, 420, code for smoking pot. But I'm almost 30 years old. Is this still funny? Was I intended to get the slang?

As I left that morning, I found myself unable to stop thinking about this random and meaningless interchange of information. The square "adult" side of me speaks of her unprofessionalism and borders on irritation. The young "pre-mom" in me finds amusement that I look young enough for this young gal to have shared the laugh with an assumed mutual understanding. It has me analyzing my age and my roles. And has me wondering how often a well-timed comment goes over my head.

I'm no stranger to the fact that I graduated high school nearly 12 years ago and, at the time, I recall the same stiffled giggles at writing 4/20 over and over in class or peers calling attention to 420 when the time of day inevitably arrived, but that was over a decade ago. Should I be grateful that I'm still current enough to know what the 'kids' are talking about? Should I be optimistic that I might still have a chance of knowing what MY kids are talking about 13 years from now?

I guess the point is that although we become parents, hold careers, become responsible for car payments and mortgages, some things never change. Teens will still have their inside jokes and references to be hidden from the older generations - and their parents. In this instance, I'm just lucky I looked young enough to hang with the joke. I know there will be a day when I don't.