Baby Voice

Not only do I look 12, but I sound seven year old. I am the complete pre-teen package. I was unaware of my seven year old voice until I was in tenth grade. I remember it quite vividly. I was home, doing my homework, and the phone rang. When I picked up, the woman asked if she could talk to my mommy or daddy. When I told her they were not home, she replied, "well, honey, who is in charge?"

Well, honey, I am sixteen years old and I am in charge. I wasn't bold enough to say that, so I replied with a very childish, "I am!" The woman went on to explain that she was my older brother's math teacher. Funny, Nick and I actually had the same math teacher. I told the woman who I was and, she was, indeed, my math teacher. She laughed and told me that I sounded like a seven year old. Thus, bringing that perviously little unknown fact to my attention.

The seven year voice has not changed in the eleven years since that phone call. As a teacher, I get phone calls in my classroom throughout the day. Many times I answer to hear a colleague ask to put the teacher on the phone. The person who calls my room the most is the secretary. We will call her Mrs. P. Mrs. P. calls so often that she knows I sound like a seven year old and doesn't think twice when she hears my baby voice on the phone.

When she called early this morning, she was all worked up because one of my students had lost her flute. This apparently was a huge ordeal at home, and her mother was calling the school just about every ten minutes to find out if her daughter had found her stupid flute. About an hour later, my classroom phone rang again. I was not anywhere near it, but my student, Chrissy, was. So, Chrissy answered the phone. Big mistake!

Chrissy's ten-year old voice, must have sounded close enough to my seven-year old voice, because Mrs. P did not question who was on the phone, just assumed it was me. After she heard the hello, she went on to explain how, "this freakin parent keeps calling about this freakin flute." She asked if I could have the kid "call her freakin mother." She didn't realize it was not me until Chrissy replied very sheepishly, "ok."

Luckily, Mrs. P was able to lighten things up when she realized it wasn't me. Chrissy didn't seem all that phased when she came to give me the message, although Mrs. P was quite devastated. Me, I found it quite funny. I'm just hoping there is no phone call from Chrissy's mother tomorrow!