A few weeks ago, I spent a wonderful day with my friend Mel. We had lots of fun taking pictures of each other in Hartford. When we got back to the house, I uploaded over 250 pictures to the computer and we looked at them.
Mel is a beautiful, young girl with barely a flaw on her skin. She looked fabulous in every shot.
When we got to the pictures she took of me, all I could see were the wrinkles, and I said so.
Mel looked at me and basically told me the pictures look like me.
She wasn't being mean in any way.
She loved the pictures she took of me.
They were "me".
Don't we all tend to have a much younger mental picture of ourselves?
I don't feel inside very much different than I felt back in college.
I feel young. I don't feel like I am 52 at all.
My hair may be different now, but IN MY MIND I don't look any different than I did over 30 years ago.
Mel's comment really made me think.
I DO have wrinkles. Plenty of them.
I have crows feet around my eyes when I smile. Maybe even when I'm not smiling!
The wrinkles under my eyes are all connected now, vertically and horizontally.
I have permanent dark circles around my eyes. And a blue vein on the side of my head.
My neck isn't as tight as it used to be. Jowls are beginning to form.
And my neck has creases and lines in it too.
These are the things that I see when I look at myself in pictures.
What Mel made me understand that day was so very important, though.
These are not things like zits that go away and do not define you.
I will never again be without wrinkles, or circles, or saggy skin.
This is who I am now. They are permanent fixtures on my body.
I may always feel young on the inside, but this body of mine will never get younger.
So from this day forward, I will try not to focus on the things I cannot change.
I will try to look at the bigger picture.
I will grow old with grace. I will embrace me, as I am ... as I will be.
I spent some time with a 98 year old woman last week. Violet Cheesman. She was the essence of how I would want to be if I am lucky enough to reach that age. She was so young on the inside that you barely noticed her wrinkled up face or weary eyes. She was interested in everyone and everything. She didn't sit back and expect others to do things for her. If she could do it herself, she did it. That's how I want to be.
That is my plan.
Mel is a beautiful, young girl with barely a flaw on her skin. She looked fabulous in every shot.
When we got to the pictures she took of me, all I could see were the wrinkles, and I said so.
Mel looked at me and basically told me the pictures look like me.
She wasn't being mean in any way.
She loved the pictures she took of me.
They were "me".
Don't we all tend to have a much younger mental picture of ourselves?
I don't feel inside very much different than I felt back in college.
I feel young. I don't feel like I am 52 at all.
My hair may be different now, but IN MY MIND I don't look any different than I did over 30 years ago.
Mel's comment really made me think.
I DO have wrinkles. Plenty of them.
I have crows feet around my eyes when I smile. Maybe even when I'm not smiling!
I have permanent dark circles around my eyes. And a blue vein on the side of my head.
My neck isn't as tight as it used to be. Jowls are beginning to form.
And my neck has creases and lines in it too.
These are the things that I see when I look at myself in pictures.
What Mel made me understand that day was so very important, though.
These are not things like zits that go away and do not define you.
I will never again be without wrinkles, or circles, or saggy skin.
This is who I am now. They are permanent fixtures on my body.
I may always feel young on the inside, but this body of mine will never get younger.
So from this day forward, I will try not to focus on the things I cannot change.
I will try to look at the bigger picture.
I will grow old with grace. I will embrace me, as I am ... as I will be.
I spent some time with a 98 year old woman last week. Violet Cheesman. She was the essence of how I would want to be if I am lucky enough to reach that age. She was so young on the inside that you barely noticed her wrinkled up face or weary eyes. She was interested in everyone and everything. She didn't sit back and expect others to do things for her. If she could do it herself, she did it. That's how I want to be.
That is my plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment