This morning I rolled over to turn on my Iphone, but the facial recognition feature no longer knew me. I turned it off and tried again. Nope.
Shit.
I leapt out of bed and headed for the nearest mirror, only to be reminded of Hemingway’s famous line about how a person goes bankrupt: gradually and then suddenly. Apparently, skin is the same—a slow sag, followed by a devastating market collapse.
Could my face have headed south in a single night? I considered tossing my phone in the toilet, but then I remembered that it’s old too.
Gravity is so disheartening. Features slowly melt into one another until you are no longer the you that you knew. Like basset hounds, we droop, jowly and bag-eyed and long in the tooth because our gums have retreated. The wrinkles on our foreheads roll up like leveler blinds when we smile.
Getting old is humiliating. When we are carded for a bottle of wine in our 30s, we are mildly annoyed. In our 40s, we are a little bit flattered. In our 50s, we roll our eyes. In our 60s, we consider decking the cashier.
I remember as a kid being proud that I could touch my tongue to my nose. Now I just wish I could touch my toes.
Friends tell me that I look like my mother, but they didn’t know her when she was young. I asked my granddaughter recently if I looked old to her. She cocked her head and said,
“Well, your hair looks young, Grammie.”
Children are told constantly that they are beautiful— they could care less. We need to hear it when we are older and in doubt.
If you love an older person, it helps to tell them that their beauty is more powerful than gravity, more languid because of the wisdom shining through.
I turned off my ungrateful phone and choose to embrace the words of my friend Bonnie, who has always been beautiful,
“Remember, even if we’re no longer beautiful, we can always be cute!”
I pulled out a polka dot skirt and an enormous hat, and headed out the door—adorable.
Adorable is right!
You are not only beautiful inside and out, you are f*&^ing adorable and whip smart and funny. Who needs more than that, stupid iphone ;)