Aging . . .

Sorry to any young folk reading my blog. Feel free to skip this post if you feel like it. But I did say in a recent post that I was in the middle of my midlife crisis, so it isn't like I didn't warn you. And any older readers, well, feel free to mock me for talking about this when I'm "only" in my 40s.

Anyway, for years, I looked younger than I actually was. This was downright painful when I was a teenager. When I was 16, I was brought the children's menu on more than one occasion. Ouch. (Of course, I was only 5 feet tall and less than 100 pounds at the time, so it wasn't completely unreasonable for them to assume, but still . . .) But I heard "I never would have guessed you were X years old" SO many times over the years. I heard it so many times that sometimes I wanted to scream. I thought I would never stop hearing it. And then 3 years ago, I suddenly stopped hearing it.

3 years ago, I was 40. And I swear, overnight, my eyes started to sink in. I had to color my hair on a much more regular basis if I wanted to cover the grey. My skin just didn't look as refreshed. The skin on my neck wasn't as taut. And although I had been overweight for quite a few years before that, it suddenly became harder to lose weight, and easier to gain. And I don't think I've heard one person in the last 3 years say "Oh, I never would have guessed . . . "

It probably doesn't help things that I don't wear makeup. Well, let me rephrase that. I usually don't wear makeup. I sometimes wear makeup to church and I wear makeup for special occasions. But I've never been someone that wore makeup regularly before either. I've also noticed that when I wear makeup, it looks less natural and more like I'm trying to make myself look better.

And it isn't like I really care, I guess, in the grand scheme of things. I mean, I'm not going out and getting a facelift or botox or lipo or anything. And while most of my friends are younger than I am, most of them are at least heading into their late 30s now, so I'll have company in the 40s soon.

But on the other hand, I really thought that I wouldn't care at all. Or that I would just be like Dick Clark or something, and always look pretty much the same and so I'd never have really deal with looking at my face in the mirror and realize that I was looking my age - or on bad days, even older.

I know that it really just shows that I've been around long enough to experience some things in life (oh, I have a post brewing about being young and inexperienced too. One of these days. Right now, I have a lot of posts that I want to write, but I don't have that much time to write them.) And I'm mostly o.k. with that. I know that I probably will only start to look older and older too, and I'm mostly o.k. with that too. But sometimes, I wouldn't mind hearing that "I would never guess . . . " just a few more times. I promise I won't scream.