WARNING: Depressing content. Not suitable for people who don't have any chocolate readily available.
It's just not fair. Men can get old and nobody cares. Cary Grant was a sex symbol in his 80's (and yes, he was HOT!) Paul McCartney is selling out concerts in his 60's (and he is HOT, HOT!). And the Rolling Stones, don't even get me started...they are almost 100 arent they? (but definitely NOT hot.)
But women on the other hand....women can't get old. If we do we have let ourselves go. We are no longer desirable and we can no longer think for ourselves. Women have to dye, snip, starve, tuck, inject and implant in order to remain viable human beings. (But there is so little left that is actually human!)
I can no longer see (Erma Bombeck, my hero, called it "loss of menu"), my skin is starting to sag, and little lines are beginning to appear on my face. Every thing else is sagging as well and as Erma said..."I can't look at my neck without being reminded that I haven't made chicken soup in a while". I leak, I snore and I waddle. And there are little gray wires that relentlessly poke through the quaff. A former co-worker when asked if he was over the hill would reply "I'm on top", well it's all down hill from here.
An announcer on a television commercial states that age is nothing to be ashamed of then the actress boldly announces that she is 43. Then they proceed to try and sell me a cream that will miraculously make me look years, if not decades younger. As if that's my only hope. SHEESH, 43! How in the world can 43 be an age of which you might possibly be ashamed and that you would most definitely need magic face cream? Well I'm 44. You do the math, It may be too late for me.
You may say at this point, but you have wisdom that comes with experience. Well I'll tell ya, the only place that wisdom of the elderly (and I use that term loosely) is truly appreciated and revered is possibly in Asia. Certainly not in the United States. Sure you can do TV commercials for adult diapers, denture cream, and stuff that will make your bones less brittle. But you still are not Gidget anymore. We sequester our elders in active adult communities. They sit around and play tennis and drink cocktails while the rest of us flounder around and learn life's lessons, all over again, all by ourselves, with out the benefit of anyone wiser leading the way.
Well, I hope I have not thoroughly depressed everyone. Honesty can sometimes be a real downer. The good news is that not all people have this narrow viewpoint (the ones that do are mostly people who sell diet plans, exercise equipment and magic face cream). There are some people in this world (namely my husband, the HOT, HOT, HOTTEST man on the planet!) who can look beyond the package and see and appreciate what is really there. The stuff that you can take with you. I'm talking about stuff like kindness, integrity, faith, spiritual strength, intelligence, compassion and wisdom. The stuff that really makes you beautiful.
