Last Saturday was Family Weekend at my daughter’s college. She is a freshman and before my eyes has transformed into a confident young woman. I couldn’t be more proud.
So I’m looking at myself now. I am a parent going to parent’s weekend. I certainly don’t feel old enough to have a freshman in college – even though I am approaching…..ahem….fifty. My body is starting to show signs of aging. I’ve had my share of aches and pains – jolting me into the reality that I’m not 20 years old anymore. I now enjoy Sunday afternoon naps. I prefer staying in on a Saturday night snug in my jammies by 7pm. Appears that the tiny little lines near my eyes have settled in for the long haul, even though I’ve desperately tried to remove them with expensive cream. I just attribute them to laughing too much. The resolve that I’ll have to go to my hairdresser every 6 weeks for the rest of my life to cover up the one inch gray halo that outlines the edge my face…… and now I realize that my eyebrows need a color boost too (I tried plucking out all the gray but realize that if I continue I’d soon be eyebrowless….) Things that were once perky are now droopy. My once taut neck resembles something served at Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve had to accept that I just don’t remember much anymore. Sometimes I look at a piece of celery and can’t remember what it is. The memory loss comes and goes. This is my daughter’s pet peeve with me – she will tell me something 5 times and it just doesn’t register. It’s not that I am intentionally forgetting, it’s like my brain is too full. Then I’ll repeat the same thing 5 times in a row. We’ll find the cell phone in the fridge or the car keys in the silverware drawer. No saying where things will end up.
My vision is not great – one eye near sided, the other far sided. I can’t hear much now either. Our television volume has gone from a level 13 to a 16. I mis-hear lots of stuff too. Lyrics to songs – forget it. For years I sang the song In My Midnight Confession as Immaculate Conception.…. I now appreciate Easy Spirit and Clark footwear. My most recent sign of aging – if I laugh too hard sometimes I lose control and a piddle a little. Ugh…..
Yet in my heart I still feel as young and crazy as I did in college. For over thirty years my college roommates and I have gone to Cape Cod for girls weekend (thanks Phyllis – mwah!) We are silly, zany and nuts – we crack up and love life. We basically revert back to giddy teenagers (well, I do anyway). We jump in bed with each other on Sunday morning, making goofs and tease and taunt. It’s harmless fun – we go out to dinner and playfully fight for the front seat (well, I do anyway) come home, have a drinky poo, crank up the stereo and dance in the living room. Last time the song Maniac from Flashdance blasted on the radio and we pulled out a portable potty and did the Chair Dance on it (well, I did anyway). Last year I took a trip to Florida with my roommate. Her condo happens to be right up the street from David Cassidy – so what would a mature almost 50 year old woman do? You got it – we belted out “I Think I Love You” outside his house at 2 am. Wonder why he didn’t come out and take a picture with us? So the next day we went back to his gated home and my friend (who I might add is 1 year and 2 months older than me) proceeded to dig through his garbage to find a souvenier for us to take home. She came up empty handed as her search was cut short when a police car rounded the corner. She literally had 3 seconds to run back to the car and shift into gear. I didn’t witness the whole scene because I was scrunched down beneath the dashboard. I do have my pride you know.
So even though my neck might wiggle a bit, I know at heart I’m young and fun and vibrant and free and certainly not feeling that I’ve been around for as long as I have.
Age really is just a number. I leave you with my favorite quote:
“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, worn out and screaming WOO HOO, what a ride!”