Nostalgia Two

 As I journey through the gracefulness of aging, I find that politeness can be a form of avoidance. When I heard the phrase with a surprising tone, "Wow! "You look good for your age. "I often politely reply, "thanks" when in reality I wonder if I should really be insulted or annoyed.  Although, I know the person emitting the remarks means them as a compliment, there is a bit of condescending undertone.  After all why not just say, you look good today, or something like you must really take good care of your health.  You must exercise often.

Perhaps us maturing adults, should publish articles and pamphlets indicating the conversational etiquette which should be used when attempting to compliment a person of advancing age.

Still, I must admit that when I look into the mirror first thing in the morning, I wish my first thought would be something like that you look good for your age.  Or perhaps something like, not so bad.  No instead, the mental stream which goes more like, are there any physically recognizable features left of that thirty year old? Should I use more retinol?   Is cold-pressed black cumin seed oil really beneficial and should I consult my physician before starting to use it?   

I lift my eyebrows very high toward my hairline and do several extreme versions of facial yoga.  The fish-face exercise is a favorite.  You know the one where you raise your eyebrows upward, your jaw is lowered, your lips structuring the design of a fish stretching its mouth in a wide oval shape. And of course, there is the one where you fill your mouth with air and move your cheeks from side-to-side in an attempt to strengthen the facial muscles while reducing the frown lines.   

OH! Well!  Let's get out of this state of insignificant vanity and start the morning grooming, especially since a freshly completed shower and the lowering of the body from the midriff to brush the hair produces more facial vitality.   

Look deeper, whispered that perceptive inner voice, the hairline is thinning but your character is not.  With age for some reason the nose grows larger but also does your sense of patience and consideration.  Your kindness did not leave you and you still have a strong capacity to love.  

Remember the time when you attended the orchid show at the botanical garden and was mesmerized by their variety and beauty.  Or the time at the art museum  when you were so enthralled with a Claude Monet painting that you felt as if you were standing in his garden with him and he offered you some tea. And you will never forget the total awe experienced the day you visited the Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England.  The massive size of the interior of that cathedral was breathtaking and humbling. And I know that you recall attending a violin concert by a noted European violinist whose name I have forgotten but I have not forgotten the fact that his brilliant performance brought tears to my eyes.

Realistically, if I spent too much time criticizing the inevitable changes of aging and not reflect on the contributions I made in the lives of others or the volunteerism or the hours of listening to classical music or the sheer appreciation of the beauty of nature,  I am when taking away some of the most precious gifts given in the forms of grace.   

 

Nostalgia

 As nostalgia involuntarily meanders through my ethos, I question how it seems that one day I was playing games like hop-scotch, hide and seek, jacks, and kick-the-can than several seconds later my doctor is  making statements like at your age you should expected certain changes in your skin.

Does expecting changes in my skin mean that I should expect teenage white heads, occasional pimples and should I go out and buy some Clearasil?   

I can now certainly see the benefit of my subscription to the, (Massachusetts General Hospital Newsletter), as it recommended the use of salicylic acid for maturing skin.  My physician's comment was void of any recommendations or suggestions.  If a  person that is a few decades passed forty does that make their vanity concerns less valid?  As one, if I am being honest, who is actually three decades past forty, I certainly don't want to look in the mirror in the morning and see a protruding white blotch in the middle of my forehead.  

In witnessing a whitehead, I may not have experienced the teenage devastation and drama, but I must confess that I find the conspicuous white blotch unattractive and physically disturbing. Perhaps I misunderstood the doctor, my thirty year junior, and maybe she was not being nonchalant, dismissive or indifferent.  It might have just been that she could not equate with why the blotch mattered to me.  My math was a little off a few sentences ago, the correction is that she is (my forty junior).

The games we children played in our early years were actually building our physical agility and strength.  The  challenges of playing Double-Dutch, the leg muscle building of bike riding, and why do children prefer running to walking?

As a child , I was fascinated by ladybugs.  Those tiny creatures with the red body speckled with black spots.  I often used an index card so that the bug would crawl on it then I would allow the lady to walk onto the back of my hand, all the while being completely in awe.  I never understood the rhyme,  "    Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children all burn." I learned today that the rhyme is,  "an illusion to the practice of farmers burning their fields after the harvest."

Ladybug, ladybug is also considered a chant to send on its way. The ladybug beetle is helpful to farmers by reducing the number of harmful larvae and insects on crops. In certain parts of the English-speaking world, farmers chanted right before and they burned their fields after harvest.  " Ladybug ladybug, fly away home/ Your house is on fire, your children alone (or your children are gone).  Some people still recite the verse when a ladybug lands on them and before gently flicking the insect off of them, because swatting a ladybug is considered very bad luck.  ( Information regarding the history of the Ladybug rhyme was collected from, ("The Webmaster's page").