Aging terrifies me.
I know that it’s a part of life, and wrinkles are a sign of life well lived and blah blah blah, but all those reassurances are kind of lost on me. Aging and the passage of time still worries the crap out of me. Why does everything have to deteriorate and… die?
I was genuinely sad to hear of Elizabeth Taylor’s passing yesterday. I sifted through some hauntingly beautiful images of her, and I might have shed a tear or two.
The thing is, Elizabeth didn’t really age all that gracefully. Maybe she was just eccentric, but to an outsider looking in, it would seem she clung desperately to the beauty of her youth ‘til the day she died, and I sometimes wonder how much of her identity she drew from the woman she no longer really was. Not that she ever stopped being Elizabeth Taylor or an icon, but as we age, we grow… different. Just a thought. I don’t claim to know a thing about her, and I’m referring only to her outward appearance. She seemed to be a really wonderful person and humanitarian, regardless.
I think we have to continuously reinvent ourselves in this life. We should learn from the person we once were, but never let that person fully define us.
A few months back I told my mom that I don’t feel my age – that I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I’m 24 already when it seems like just yesterday I was still a teenager. Then my mom told me that she doesn’t feel her age either, but a combination of all the ages she’s ever been. I thought that was interesting.
I guess I just want to age gracefully. There will probably be many moments of crisis when I find a new age spot or a new wrinkle or when my neck skin starts getting all loose and I end up needing that saggy-chin-skin surgery (have you seen that commercial?!), but most importantly, I want to be beautiful, in the most appropriate way, regardless of my age. And I don’t just mean physical beauty. Age will rob us all of that, so we really should make sure there’s some substance beneath it all. Yes?
Sorry for the randomness of this post. I’m just thinkin’ out loud.
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