On Aging

Has anyone else noticed that how we perceive and accept aging has changed over the last couple of generations? Hair color, anti-aging creams, surgeries, and younger fashion trends all seem to be the normal for women into their 50s and 60s now. We are expected to never age. 

While there's nothing wrong with taking good care of ourselves-including our appearance-I think we have to be real and have some level of acceptance that time marches on.

My hair has a lot of gray and no amount of brown hair dye is going to make me look like I'm 26. And I'm ok with that. Or I'm trying to be. Some days I'm really not. But I feel like there's no going back now. 

I faithfully use my "Oil of Old Lady" (aka Oil of Olay)-partly because I now live in the midwest where the humidity is not 96% and partly because of those fine lines I heard about on commercials for years. 

I exercise and try to watch what I eat. But I won't have my 18 year old body again. And I'm (mostly) ok with that. 

I haven't traded my jeans and shirts in for skirts and "blouses" or elastic waist pants (well, except for Yoga pants, and that's totally different). But those jeans with all the holes? And super low rise? Or, maybe worse, high rise? To accentuate that not-so-flat belly? No thanks. 

Last March, I got promoted to Gram! In September I had a hysterectomy-life changing in the best ways possible, but still feels like an "old lady" thing to say. In November, I celebrated what felt like a significant birthday to me. I turned 46. I guess it feels significant because I'm now closer to 50 than to 40. 🤯 Half of my nest is now empty and Harold and I are finding our now normal as a not-as-young married couple and changing parenting stages. Sometimes I am not really sure who I am or what I'm doing. I don't feel this old in my head (my back and knees sometimes remind me that I truly am though.) 

I just have to wonder if my grandma ever felt this way. Did she feel like she was supposed to pretend to be 10 or 20 years younger than she actually was?