I Wanna Be Aunt Bee

I'm soooo tired.

Tired of

worrying about

what I eat

how much I exercise

eye cream

anti-aging creams

sunscreen

vitamins

supplements

Adding highlights

covering gray

volumizers

frizz control

What I

wear

Too short

too long

too old

too young

Sometimes

I envy

women of

past eras....

{On most

things I'm

grateful for

being a woman

of today}

In days gone by

you'd reach

"a certain age"

and expectations

about looking

young faded ~

It became about

comfort

in your own skin

not trying to

change that skin

or erase those

wrinkles

or fit into spandex.

This is more like it!

In the car yesterday

my {ever-wise}

teenage daughter

posed this question:

If I start using 

wrinkle cream now,

will I be wrinkle-free

when I am your age?

{You know, old!}

Apparently

society is so

terrified of 

looking older

that even our

youngest are

worried about

wrinkles!

The bombardment

of commercials ~

Restylane

miracle creams

Nutri-system

The Hollywood

surgery crowd ~

Nicole Kidman

Priscilla Presley

Jessica Lange

Meg Ryan

Raquel Welch

Victoria Secret ads

on mall walls

sides of buses,

television.....

What happened

to the days

of Aunt Bee?

She was the 

maiden aunt in

the hit TV series

The Andy Griffith

Show.

Gray hair

soft physique

aprons or

house dresses

ate what she wanted

Watching re-runs

as a child 

she represented

the elderly, to

me ~

When the show

began in 1960,

she was 58!

Women of

a certain age,

1940's:

Ladies in Lavender, 2004

Women of

a certain age,

21st century:

Priscilla Presley, age 65

So,

what did

I tell

my daughter?

That while

creams might

help prevent

wrinkles on

the very top 

layer of the skin,

a well-lived 

life goes

deeper.

Smile

and laugh lines

have to

be earned

and shouldn't

be erased.

That pinning

your sense of self

on a facade

will only lead

to unhappiness

as that facade

inevitably changes.

Castle ruins ~ Scotland

To develop

an inner life ~

of interests,

relationships

and meaning ~

that she can

always be proud of

and will always 

carry with her.....

on the 

inside.

To enjoy her

precious young self

and forget about

wrinkles!

It's been a

long week

and I'm soooo

tired.....

Thank you

for listening.

I'm feeling

better, already : )

{Now, 

if I can only

get a nap!}

[all images:  google;

I was too tired to

take my own!]