Note to self: when applying shimmery lip gloss, be certain that at no time should a piece of shimmer get stuck in the middle age lip lines that spoke out from my still quite adequate lips. The errant sparkle just seems to shimmer and highlight the oh so lovely lines, which no amount of highly expensive anti-aging products seems to be able to master.
I know that I have been blogging a lot about age lately. Face it, once you hit a certain birthday, aging becomes your Unknown Zone. Show me a book about this type of Unknown.
There are books about puberty. My mother placed such a book outside my bedroom door along with a box of Kotex pads. After dinner that night she asked me if I had any questions. Mortified, I said no and quickly got up from the table. After all, we had a class and movie in school which explained everything. Well, not really, but whatever else I needed to know my friends were happy to supply.
There are lots of books about parenting. In fact there are shelves of books in Barnes and Noble about how to be a perfect parent. I don't think I ever read one, which might explain.....no dammit, I was a perfect Mom! :) Well, aside from the cussing, maybe.
There are plenty of books about menopause. None that were helpful to me, but nonetheless I did try to read some of them. I just happened to be the book buyer at Kripalu when menopause hit. I ordered every book on menopause that I could find. Hey, they just flew off the shelves!
However, I don't think that books on parenting and books on menopause really cover what I am experiencing right now. The science of aging is not what I need to know about. My mother's aging doesn't apply (even if she left a book outside my door). Those of us who are over 50 are not looking at being the same kind of senior citizens that we have known in the past. There is no pension, no retirement, and maybe no social security or medicare for me on the horizon. I am not trying to be a downer, but the playing field has shifted.
The fact is, I sometimes wish it was like when we were in the 7th grade. As each of us attained woman hood we shared all the details with our friends. We learned about which lipsticks worked best, how to use a razor for the first time, or how a tampon worked better than a pad. It was an exciting time. We were becoming women.
I can't think of one of my friends (and I love all of my friends!) who has texted me lately saying "hey watch out when you apply the shimmery lip gloss!) I don't think as a group we are as excited about the new becoming as we were. I think that this aging process is a mixed bag, but regardless of how this process has effected us, we are all in it. My friends are truly warrior goddesses. Marathon running, belly dancing, Harley riding hot mama's. Yet, I am not sure if any of us are really, truly comfortable with this process. It hits us all in different ways, but it still hits us at some point. Whether we color our hair or not, whether we hop on a Harley or walk our dog, this journey is just as inevitable as puberty.
And I just want to wear shimmery lip gloss to highlight my still rather nice lips.
Jaya! You're right--we are all in "it". At least we're all in it TOGETHER! And, between the shimmery lip gloss stuck in my wrinkles and the silver in my hair, I'm "shining" like never before! Big hugs to you, fellow warrior goddess! (and some for Buddy and Tuck, too!)
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