Time has certainly started marching across my face lately. A month or so ago I posted about finding my first gray hair and being excited about it. I had discovered the beginning of crow’s feet a while before that. I didn’t really think too much about the crow’s feet until a couple days ago when I happened to look at myself in the visor mirror of my car. I noticed immediately that the damn crow had some big feet and there had to be more than one of them! At first I thought it was my glasses magnifying their appearance because really, I have terrible eyesight and my lenses are nothing short of telescope strength. To test my theory, I took off my glasses and smiled…and immediately realized it was not just my lenses, my “smile lines” really did look like they did at first glance. Of course, like with everything that happens in my life, or at least a lot of what has been happening lately, I thought a little too deeply about the significance of my eye wrinkles.
I believe that there are two kinds of women in this world when it comes to signs of aging. And I’m sure I am not alone in this thought. There are those women who will spend money to varying degrees in order to buy products or services that will cover up these signs. A lady that I work with was very excitedly telling us about her upcoming first Botox appointment. It’s her birthday present to herself. She is planning to have the Botox injected in the lines on her forehead. I’m not judging at all. She is, however, three years younger than me. Not yet 40. Still not judging. Whatever a woman does to her appearance is because it will help them feel good about themselves. You can’t disparage a woman (or anyone) for wanting to feel good about how they look.
I, on the other hand, am in the other group of women who embrace the aging process. I really was excited about finding my first gray hair (haven’t seen any other ones yet though). Now these exaggerated crow’s feet, which, let’s call them what they are…wrinkles, they give me a similar happy feeling. They make me feel almost content in a way. I was thinking about why that is and I think I’ve figured it out. Bottom line, wrinkles and gray hair mean that I have gotten to an older age. I am no longer the younger version of myself. For that, I am glad. I didn’t like her. I think back to how I was “back then” and it makes me cringe. Maybe because there’s a big difference between her and the person I am now. I don’t know. I could get really deep into that analysis, but I really am just glad that I survived all of the things my younger self had to endure. She handled things the best way she knew how and because of that, I am who I am now. So for me to see these very visible signs of aging, it makes me proud in a way. I survived my youth and while I don’t feel old (well, the fact that I’m starting to have back pain disagrees), I am very grateful to be at this stage of my life. My life is not over yet, but I am very excited and happy that I am on this side of it. The side that makes me feel relief to be here and optimistic about what’s coming, whatever it may be.
May all of us women enjoy this stage of life, whether we choose to look like we’re in this stage or not.
And as a visual aid, here are the crow’s feet in question:
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