Age is Relative

A very sweet thing happened to me today, and it made me think. It made me think a lot. I attended the funeral of an uncle this morning with my mother and one of my sisters.  It was my mother's brother-in-law, and although I knew him, he never really participated in any family functions over the years.  As we were going down the line, speaking with my aunt and her in-laws, my uncle's sister overheard my mother introduce my sister and me to someone else. I hugged my aunt and spoke to her, and then turned to this sister. I held out my hand to shake hers, but she grabbed me, hugged me and then looked up at me with a beautiful smile and said, "You are a pretty girl."  As I was driving back home, smelling her old lady perfume on myself, I thought that age really is relative.

Sometimes I feel young, but I'm not.

I'm 51 years old. Sometimes I want to look younger, but I can't. I can see the wrinkles adding up in the mirror.  Sometimes I want to have the energy and life I had when I was younger, but it has slowly seeped out like air from a balloon.

One of my uncle's sisters had to be in her 70s, but she looked like a picture in a magazine. She was absolutely gorgeous, and my mother told us she had been a model in her youth. She was tall and very graceful. Oh, how I wish I could be like that when I'm that age. (Ha! I'll sure never be tall at only 5')

Time marches on, and it takes its toll on all of us. To me, I feel I am beginning to age pretty quickly. To my children, I'm just Mama and one day they will all of a sudden look at me and wonder when I became old.

I wonder how my grandson will see me. I was thinking of my grandmother today too. I made the comment to my sister that she was a pretty woman. If she'd had help with her makeup, she could have been striking. I'd never had that thought before.

Aging is a part of life. As a matter of fact, if you aren't aging, you are dead. Right? Or you have a cracker jack plastic surgeon.

This isn't just about how you look when you age, but how you feel. I'm trying to come to grips with the age thing. It's hard, but there's nothing you can do but accept it and live. If you dwell on it, you make yourself miserable. Today, I was a girl again. And those kind of days are priceless.