Skip to main content

Wrinkles and Age Spots and Lines...OH MY!

My daughter and I were looking at a photo album the other day when she said, “Wow, Mom, you look so young here.”  I just frowned at her and replied…”Sweetie, we took this picture last fall.  I don’t look that much younger.”  Then, she did the little head bobble thing, as if to imply that I was delusional.   I heard my husband sighing in another room, which only meant that he keenly sensed the annoyed inflection in my voice and knew to use his ejector seat button on his escape hatch. 

Later that evening, I began to examine the different angles of my face. Sure, there were a few crows-feet but they were nothing to get injections over.  I also had the patent laugh lines, which I hated, but again, not really a candidate for Restalyne yet, and I had a few railroad tracks on my forehead…nothing bangs couldn’t hide.  Moreover, I didn’t have any jowls, or even a turkey neck, so, what did my daughter see that I didn’t?  

Perhaps, she sensed the overall marking of time by the nature of the picture itself.  She certainly noticed the changes in herself and her younger brother, as their transformations are very rapid and obvious from year to year.  Was she just plain insightful? An old soul?  On the other hand, was she just being a typical 10 year-old girl on the verge of tweendom?  Yet, instead of asking her what she meant by the comment, or why she thought I looked younger, I became the wounded juvenile by just being automatically insulted followed by an hour-long session of aesthetic insecurity in front of the mirror.  

I studied the picture after she went to sleep.  In the picture, we were all picking apples in the local apple orchard.  I was wearing a torn pair of shorts, my hair was up in a ponytail, I was wearing sunglasses, and then it hit me.  I don’t think it was that my face looked younger, per se; rather, my behavior reflected that of a more carefree person.  We took goofy pictures in the orchard, talked about apple recipes, joked around, and finally, ate the fruits of our labor in the car.  It was a great day, and we were in a great mood.  The photograph reflected all that carefree, uninhibited behavior which my daughter internalized as youthful.   The laugh lines, along with the detested age spot on my face, and the railroad tracks on my forehead were still there and trust me, they weren’t etched in any deeper than a picture of me recently, but to her, it was the candidness of the shot that probably prompted her to make that remark.  

Now, given this epiphany I am still going to be vigilant about my wrinkle free night cream, but, maybe, a little free spirit goes a long way.




Comments

  1. Cue SticksJune 9, 2011 at 7:04 PM

    That's so true! Sometimes we're too serious for our own good and need to lighten up a bit. Great advice/post.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TREE-ting the Problem-Doing the Right Thing is Never Easy

Apparently, a purple plum tree only has a life expectancy of 20 years or so.   I never realized that some trees have life expectancies, like humans. Unlike us, I always assumed that trees would live forever.   I mean, isn’t that the point of planting a tree anyway?   So that after we are long gone, the tree is still there like a pillar of strength continuing to emit life to all those who look at it? The tree that has been loyally standing in front of our house for 22 years (we have lived here for 14 years) only slightly defied these statistics, though, the ominous crack down the middle and the straggly blooms fearfully indicated that its demise was imminent.   After all, I didn’t want it to come crashing down on the house, or, more importantly, on one of the kids playing in the driveway.   No, the practical side of me prevailed on the side of safety, the emotional side…well, that was a completely different ballgame.   In the end, I decided it was for th...
5 comments
Read more

Oh the Closets You’ll Clean and the Items You’ll Find-A Rollicking, Rhyming Post

I’m zealously cleaning, It’s out of control, The kids started camp And now I’m on a roll. In the younger one’s room, The closet came first, Five bags for donation All ready to burst. I’m purging, spelunking, and filling a basket, So much to throw out that I’m blowing a gasket. Train parts, and car wheels, there’s blink toys and bits, Stuffed in a drawer and none of it fits. Yo-yos, kazoos and buttons look rusty, Webkinz, stuffed doggies and pillow pets are dusty. I’m sneezing and coughing, my eyes are all red, And that’s just the closet, not under the bed. When I check under there, I find stray toys and notes; Pencils, pajamas, a doo dad that floats. A dirty old sock, a card game of sorts, A piece to a puzzle, a red pair of shorts. I know that his bedroom Looks that of a hoarder, It’s nothing compared to the room of my daughter! Sometimes I’ll sigh, or just shoot her a glare, Won’t tell her to clean it, no, that I don’t dare, ‘Cause, nagging and begging just isn’t the answer And some...
2 comments
Read more

There's a Toothache in My Heart

A very well known and loved Rabbi, Rabbi Sidney Greenberg, (who incidentally was one of the many Rabbis who participated in my wedding), used this phrase , there’s a toothache in my heart , when refering to a friend and colleague who had fallen from grace…enough said.   The saying struck me as so poignant and descriptive because we all know how brutal toothache’s can be, and that is exactly how it feels in our hearts when we are saddened or deeply troubled about something. At exactly 12:30 today, I have an emergency dentist appointment.   I have no idea what’s wrong but I see stars everytime I eat or drink something cold, or for that matter, room temperature.   I have to warm yogurt or fruit on the right side of my mouth before I can even think about using the left side.   It’s brutal, it hurts, and boy am I annoyed.    The pain has been consistent, persistent and at times excrutiating.   Ari asked me if it was going to fall out as he wiggled his ow...
1 comment
Read more