Friday, March 30, 2012

Bodies and Bod-ease

Nip 'N Tuck? from google


Okay. Disclaimer: I didnt think I would even respond to this prompt from Fireblossom at Toads. Nothing was coming. But I am enjoying a glass of wine at the moment, after a long day,  letting my thoughts sort of freefall, and this is what they said : (will I Regret this in the Morning?)


Wild Woman remembers
when she was young and pretty
but didnt know it,
and would not be seen without makeup,
so inadequate she felt,
hiding behind
that pinkish goo.
He said, "Maybe when you're going out dancing...
but when it's just over the breakfast table....????"


She got natural soon after,
but it was too late for him.


Then she got to where
she just didnt care.
Knew she was Enough,
had HAD Enough of men
anyway,
and natural was 
the only way 
to be.


She got older, still -
life is relentless, that way - 
and being natural
took on
a whole new life -
stalking around the yard in her pajamas
watering the flowers:
"You just dont give a shit do you?" her friend laughs,
admiring.


Combing her hair once a day,
because she supposes she must,
but ignoring it the rest of the time,
letting it go its own way.


Poor vision becomes a blessing
when you are old.
You dont believe you're old.
There is still that woman inside
that used to be You,
(we blessedly believe THAT image, 
not the one in the mirror - mirrors Totally Suck),
but there is a super-imposed image
over it
rather like a Jello aspic
that didnt entirely set.
And you know what?
No one cares.
No one is looking anyway.


After 55, no one Looks
in the same way,
ever again.
There is great freedom in reaching this state
of "What you see is what you get."
No one wants to "get" you, maybe,
but if they did,
it is the real you 
they'd be getting.


Did you know
that you can Google
"aging women faces
with saggy necks"
and get 140,000 results
in 0.36 seconds?
Wow.
The wonders
of Technology.


Here: Try this!


Aging Sucks from - where else?- Google

Too much information?
But some of you relate,
right?
and the others - this is a warning:
Enjoy the Now!!!!!!
for it is fleeting!

Hee hee.

18 comments:

  1. Sherry, delightful. All the crap I had to plaster on my face for gigs, I couldn't wait for Noxema to wash it all off. Totally ruined my skin for life. I loved the comic, too... I do have to cross my legs when I feel a sneeze coming on!! Growing old is not honored in our society. No Crone Crowns. Just dye jobs and facelifts. I, like you, refuse! Amy
    http://sharplittlepencil.com/2012/03/30/bring-back-my-heart-song-included/

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  2. My cousin was gorgeous -- a homecoming queen. I was surprised when she once said she never dared to go out of the house without makeup. Why? I wondered? Did she not see what was so abundantly there anyway? Apparently not. The mind does such strange things to the mirror. Then there's aging -- the inevitable so abhorrent to our visual culture -- and getting honest with the mirror, or whipping it every which way so it will sing we're the fairest of 'em all. Amazingly, surrender to the simple fact that there's no reversing what age advances has the surprising side-effect of entering into the greatest freedom to be exactly who we are. Youth is so wasted on the young! - Brendan

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  3. Funny, just yesterday I was thinking how I'm beginning to hate mirrors! I was never one for makeup in my youth, now I'm eyeing out those products which promise to hide the signs of aging lol!

    When the teenagers I work with complain about how they look in their school photos, I always say: You will never be more beautiful then you are today. It's true for any age, don't you think. There is only today.

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  4. I just love this!

    "stalking around the yard in her pajamas
    watering the flowers"

    Sounds so familiar, even now. :)

    ~Shawna
    rosemarymint.wordpress.com

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  5. I think there is beauty in every age. Mostly natural beauty which I prefer with everyone. To me adding lots of artificial substances and colorings and coverings does not enhance beauty. Really sad, I think, when teenagers and their beautiful skin cover it with make-up. Why?

    Poet Diane Wakoski once wrote a poem about being invisible after a certain age. I understand what she is saying.......

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  6. I enjoyed this..ha..ha...funny thing is I only wore make up when I was getting older,not younger. I never used it...why, because my hubby was always telling me I was beautiful without it. Now, I use it to hide away my wrinkles..he..he...

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  7. This was hilarious! And too true! I was trying to explain the "invisibility" thing to the hubby a while ago. He just doesn't get it. I get surprised when I pass a mirror now. The image I see isn't the one that's in my head! And I do wear my PJs when I walk the dogs in the early morning, much to the mortification of my daughter!

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  8. Sherry you are so adorable, an amazing woman. I love it that you just brush your hair once a day! On vacation I only brush mine twice a week!!!

    Some women were not made for men's dreams, they belong to their last thoughts, they are the ones who'll be there for them when they finally close their eyes, but it's so late they notice this.

    Kiss you girl. <3

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  9. More and more I find I just can't be bothered. I used to wear make-up any time I left the house. Now, I smear on lipstick and call it good most days. I live in these ginormous comfy cardigans (but NOT the old lady kind) and wear jams and sweats and slippers any time I can get away with it. Bosco tells me I am spiffy no matter what. He's a guy, so there!

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  10. PS--duh @ me, I forgot to say I really liked this!

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  11. I love it! Jello aspic...good one~
    You are brilliant. I am kind of like Kerry, didn't bother much, but now
    eyeballing the anti-wrinkle potions.
    I haven't subscribed, yet...
    Yes, we disappear when we get older, we blend in. I walk at night in my PJ's, sometimes. I do wear a coat...
    It is nice to know we become more real as we grow older ;D
    Well Done!

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  12. I completely relate! And thanks for the turkey photo. It's nice to see a wattle worse than mine!

    The older I get, though, the more I realize how much the same the inner me is as it has always been. I've learned something I just never suspected, somehow. Inside all of those people I once just saw as "old," the young person they once were is very much alive. That was an eye-opener for me.

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  13. Oh good grief, you're talking about me in this piece too. LOL
    And, though I shower, I refuse to change out of my Pj's all day on Sundays! Gotta have ONE day of rest.

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  14. I am always in awe of your ability to be so honest, it draws people, really it does. You write from the same set of emotions you use when talking to a good friend over coffee, someone who you know understands you...and guess what....there are a bunch out here that do just that to the degree possible. I am lucky in the fact that my wife is a natural one, not much for makeup and I love that. I am sad however that I always see these comments from women who have had their fair share of relationships with men and have sworn off..makes me sorry for my gender and sad for what it is we are perceived to stand for. Great writing Sherry...loved every minute of it.

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  15. This was really a journey you took us on... one I and all women are on. I do wear makeup most days, but not a lot. I have a whole closet of nice dresses... but haven't touched them in years - would much rather wear work out pants and a t-shirt. There was a time I would NEVER go to the grocery store without makeup... then I would just put on sun glasses (ha... how silly is THAT) and now... don't really care. I wore my barn clothes in there the other day and I think my daughter was a bit embarrassed :)

    This really is sad that men can be so foolish... I mean, to THEY always look dolled up and gorgeous? ha ... NO. How many middle age men have washboard abs... (exactly!) And why do so many men expect their woman to look like the cover of a magazine?

    You sound like SO much fun and the beauty is, that now (after all these years) it sounds to me like you know it. :)

    I loved this real candid poem and I thank you for it.

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  16. Ha! The only resin it is too much information is because what the lady in purple said is true ... ugh.

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  17. This is totally cool. It hit me at sixty, very unexpectedly. And it took a few years to recover. Now as a Crone ... I like it at 65.

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