I have noticed a few other bloggers (one is Murrmurrs) writing about aging and the fact that WE HATE IT!!!
It definitely is no fun especially when you suffer from the Peter Pan effect--I refuse to grow up! I often go about with the image of myself locked in my head that I prefer to imagine shows to everyone I meet. Unfortunately it is not so, and those #%*&@$! reflective surfaces all around the world make me face that fact. That is so cruel! I think they all should be like the carnival mirrors which distort the view. Then we could have some laughs!
Sometimes I have written poetry on the fact.
So,...I thought I would share one today. Many of my friends have heard this one.
FACING ME
Who can that aged lady in the mirror be?
She most certainly cannot be me!
I do not look at all like that!
I am not old, wrinkled and fat!
Who is she at whom I stare?
It is not me with that graying hair.
The heavy-lidded eyes resemble mine,
but cannot be with all those lines.
Her body is just a bit too round,
and she carries more than an extra pound.
Just take a look at that double chin!
It looks like the wattle on a hen.
I am not that lady staring back,
whose breasts are looking a little slack.
When I look in the mirror within my mind
I see a reflection of a different kind.;
a younger woman with a slimmer face,
one who walks with poise and grace.
Nothing jiggles as I strut,
women gaze with envy at my butt.
My eyes still have their youthful shine,
men ogle me and think I'm fine.
My mind's image or the reflected one?
Can you speculate which has won?
I'll disregard the old lady gawking at me,
and cling to the image I prefer to see!!
Love the poem, Rose and hate the idea. I am often amazed when I look in the mirror and for an instant don't recognize the face looking back at me. Thanks (or no thanks) for the reality check! Helen
ReplyDeleteOh Rose, its a recipe of humour, sadness, reality and lost youth. And very cleverly written clever lady!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteRose, I love this. Isn't it strange how we still think we're 29. I'm always surprised to look in the mirror.
ReplyDeleteI am not only surprised, I am frightened! LOL
DeleteI see the girl behind your eyes
ReplyDeletewho smiles with kindness, laughs with ease
Whose love of beauty and surprise
can conquer gloom, withstand disease.
I see the woman, valiant, strong
Whose love endures, who soldiers through.
Who clings with all her strength to God.
I see the beauty that is you.
I am touched. Thank you dear friend.
DeleteSynchronicity is operating here. My daughter and I have just been discussing that very subject on the way home from Sunnybrook. It's such a shock to see what others view in the real world, when the inner woman is still at her best. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo true.
DeleteMove to Neverland?
ReplyDeleteAlong those same lines one of my thoughts about retirement have me moving down to Orlando and going to work for Disney World. On one vacation I got talking with a bus driver going between the resorts and the parks and that is what he did.
Another option is moving to a beach shack in Belize.
Me, I am more of a mountain cabin type of girl. Love the woods and animals and peace
DeleteI'm sure you're much sexier than you think, Rose. Unsexy women don't write poems like that.
ReplyDeleteHi Rose, love your creative poem. I feel it's oh so true when it comes to myself. lol! I guess the good lord knew that if we didn't age we would never want to let go of life. Love being a grammy, but a younger looking grammy wouldn't be bad.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Jann
There are a couple of ways of looking at it...I am accepting that my body will age, but my mind is still a young person...life it's there to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteJen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
Hear hear! Inside I still feel about 26!
ReplyDeleteSomewhere inside I still see the girl I was and still am!
ReplyDeleteI haven't aged a bit since high school.
ReplyDeleteAhem.
:-) Pearl
Finally caught up on your blog, Rose. The romance post and this on aging caught my eye. I just turned 40 and am DETERMINED to spend the rest of my life speaking positively about aging. The epiphany came to me when, after countless people said things like "Forty! Are you having hot flashes yet? Are you losing your memory?," another person said, "Forty? Congratulations!" I was stunned. What a TOTALLY different attitude and one I adopted instantly. Sixty? Congratulations! Please post a poem about all the good things about aging -- the wisdom, the patience, the eye for beauty, the self-determination, the not-giving-a-crap-about-what-"everyone else" thinks. Amen!
ReplyDeleteHere's an article to rally your thoughts about aging. The Occupy Portland part is not the relevant part, it's Nancy Wigmore who is 75 and living an engaged life. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/10/members_of_elder_occupy_portla.html
ReplyDelete