In praise of aging

eyes

This morning I woke up, looked in the mirror, and sighed. It's true that time marches on - and it's marching across my face. In less than one full rotation around the sun, I'll be 30 (hush, peanut gallery, I don't want to hear it.) I always said that I wanted to age gracefully, that I welcome laugh lines and smile creases and gray hair and all that comes with getting older. I still believe all of that - but let me tell you, it's getting harder to be Zen about these kinds of things when I wake up to puffy eyes with dark circles under them and wrinkles around the edges! When teenage girls at the grocery store call me Ma'am, I never get carded, I'm among the few folks around who know what the hell 1.21 jigawatts means, why 88 miles an hour is such an important speed, and my favorite songs from my glory days are on the "oldies" station, well, let's just say I feel a little antiquated.

I made it down to my office and checked my email and found this gem from my cousin's wife:

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose facewas sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lotsof children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a localartist who was decorating them with tiger paws."You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a girl inthe line said to the little fella. Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head. His grandmother knelt down next to him. "I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," she said,while tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful!"The boy looked up, "Really?""Of course," said the grandmother. "Why, just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered, "Wrinkles."

It's just beautiful, yes? Wrinkles mean I have laughed a lot, loved a lot, cried some, and lived well. I've always marked my body to commemorate specific things - I am tattooed, pierced (metal detectors beware,) I was dreadlocked for years, and now I am starting to wrinkle. HOORAY for wrinkles - completely free body alterations to commemorate my life.

Now, I'm off to find some freckles.