I think about death...and then I think to myself...Did my Grandmother's ever truly think about death the way our generation thinks about death? Death was so prevalent...losing family in WW2, losing brothers and sisters to illnesses too young and losing father's too young too. I wish I could ask them. My mother has dementia so I cannot ask her which at times makes me sad. And so I try to concentrate on the now. I stopped coloring my hair in 2017 because I got horribly allergic to the hair dye. I kind of went through a weird reckoning of...will I look " old" not coloring my hair? Now I LOVE my salt and pepper hair and the variations of white streaks and reddish dark brown which lingers along with the very dark. I find it fascinating! As for wrinkles...I am getting more age spots and weird agey things on my arms! The furrow in my brow has grown deeper since 2016. As long as my health is good (knock on wood) my teeth are intact and My hair is still on my head and I can still see I am happy! I always use sunblock on my face now to prevent skin cancer since it runs in our pasty faced family. I wonder too if my Grandmothers were ever obsessed with youth the way women are now? They were always dressed nicely, well manicured, well coiffed and elegant...unlike me sitting here in my pajamas with my hair all crazy ....honestly...they would find me slothful and horrific. And I would have to agree.
I love your take on this Jennifer. I think our culture does us a HUGE disservice by glorifying youth when in fact, it is the older people with the wisdom and life experience we should be looking up to. Besides, wrinkles are interesting IMHO :-)
Yes...like SERIOUSLY..I cannot IMAGINE any if my Grandmothers pontificating on wrinkles and death they way we do! AND I blame it on non stop MEDIA! TIK TOK! INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS! FACEBOOK! TWITTER!! UTUBE! ETC ETC! We are inundated with the constant youth culture! 40 is the new 20! 60 is the new 40! 80 is now 60! It erases our wisdom! Look at Georgia O'Keefes face. So AMAZING in its wrinkled BEAUTY! The idea of shooting needles into our faces with poison to attempt to look more youthful makes me cringe! We have become a society of narcisstic vapid vain wimps who freak out at the sight of silver strands, wrinkles, age spots, cellulite and worry lines! We worry so much about what we look on the outside we never look inwards as a society. I have an ex friend of 40 years who did botox after her divorce. She has one eye that now droops lower than the other due to botox and the lines in her face are worse now because when you botox your muscles atrophy! She is an ex friend not because if botox though...but because she blocked me on instagram 3 weeks before her daughters wedding knowing my husband and I were looking forward to going because I posted anti Trump cartoons I drew and anti Trump GOP letters. So now she looks like a wrinkled Trump Frump. Sigh...
Good lord. You should be glad you didn't go. Who knows what kind of altercations you might have gotten into - lol. As for botox, don't get me started on that. Talk about preying on women's insecurities. Insecurities that have been created by our culture, as you said. Isn't it interesting that there is always someone or some institution that is ready and willing to administer the drugs, cut up women's faces, insert implants, deny people their rights, take away safe medical practices, and yes inject poison into faces? Always. Here's to our beautiful wrinkles and wisdom. Keep sharing Jennifer!
I loved this. Loved hearing about your on again, off again relationship with the sun and sunscreen (me too), about your mother’s beautiful eyes and commitment to having fun. But most of all I loved hearing about the stories your dad told you about his Grammy. You brought them alive for me and so have made my day a little brighter with the reminder that stories can live and touch others long after their creators pass. I love too that you are writing down your own tales for your son. It is a real gift. Thank you, Molly.
I think about death...and then I think to myself...Did my Grandmother's ever truly think about death the way our generation thinks about death? Death was so prevalent...losing family in WW2, losing brothers and sisters to illnesses too young and losing father's too young too. I wish I could ask them. My mother has dementia so I cannot ask her which at times makes me sad. And so I try to concentrate on the now. I stopped coloring my hair in 2017 because I got horribly allergic to the hair dye. I kind of went through a weird reckoning of...will I look " old" not coloring my hair? Now I LOVE my salt and pepper hair and the variations of white streaks and reddish dark brown which lingers along with the very dark. I find it fascinating! As for wrinkles...I am getting more age spots and weird agey things on my arms! The furrow in my brow has grown deeper since 2016. As long as my health is good (knock on wood) my teeth are intact and My hair is still on my head and I can still see I am happy! I always use sunblock on my face now to prevent skin cancer since it runs in our pasty faced family. I wonder too if my Grandmothers were ever obsessed with youth the way women are now? They were always dressed nicely, well manicured, well coiffed and elegant...unlike me sitting here in my pajamas with my hair all crazy ....honestly...they would find me slothful and horrific. And I would have to agree.
I love your take on this Jennifer. I think our culture does us a HUGE disservice by glorifying youth when in fact, it is the older people with the wisdom and life experience we should be looking up to. Besides, wrinkles are interesting IMHO :-)
Yes...like SERIOUSLY..I cannot IMAGINE any if my Grandmothers pontificating on wrinkles and death they way we do! AND I blame it on non stop MEDIA! TIK TOK! INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS! FACEBOOK! TWITTER!! UTUBE! ETC ETC! We are inundated with the constant youth culture! 40 is the new 20! 60 is the new 40! 80 is now 60! It erases our wisdom! Look at Georgia O'Keefes face. So AMAZING in its wrinkled BEAUTY! The idea of shooting needles into our faces with poison to attempt to look more youthful makes me cringe! We have become a society of narcisstic vapid vain wimps who freak out at the sight of silver strands, wrinkles, age spots, cellulite and worry lines! We worry so much about what we look on the outside we never look inwards as a society. I have an ex friend of 40 years who did botox after her divorce. She has one eye that now droops lower than the other due to botox and the lines in her face are worse now because when you botox your muscles atrophy! She is an ex friend not because if botox though...but because she blocked me on instagram 3 weeks before her daughters wedding knowing my husband and I were looking forward to going because I posted anti Trump cartoons I drew and anti Trump GOP letters. So now she looks like a wrinkled Trump Frump. Sigh...
Good lord. You should be glad you didn't go. Who knows what kind of altercations you might have gotten into - lol. As for botox, don't get me started on that. Talk about preying on women's insecurities. Insecurities that have been created by our culture, as you said. Isn't it interesting that there is always someone or some institution that is ready and willing to administer the drugs, cut up women's faces, insert implants, deny people their rights, take away safe medical practices, and yes inject poison into faces? Always. Here's to our beautiful wrinkles and wisdom. Keep sharing Jennifer!
Thank you Jena!
I loved this. Loved hearing about your on again, off again relationship with the sun and sunscreen (me too), about your mother’s beautiful eyes and commitment to having fun. But most of all I loved hearing about the stories your dad told you about his Grammy. You brought them alive for me and so have made my day a little brighter with the reminder that stories can live and touch others long after their creators pass. I love too that you are writing down your own tales for your son. It is a real gift. Thank you, Molly.