about | contact | home

Fifty. It is What it Is

Is 50 really the new 40? If you believe women like Meredith Vieira and her fabulous 50 cohorts who appear regularly on the pages of More magazine – all of them pictured with perfect hair and makeup and diaphanous gowns floating like clouds around them – why then yes, of course it is.

If you pose that question to me personally, a non-celeb with the big 5-0 bearing down on her hard and fast, I’ll tell you it depends on the day, the hour, the minute you ask. When I’ve just played a rousing game of tennis and emerged from a long shower, I think it’s just possible that someone could have made a mistake on the old birth certificate. Hey, it happens; I’m an editor. I see typos all the time!

My friends tell me that I don’t look even close to my age. They are my friends, after all. But when my back and legs start to ache after just an hour or two in the garden, or when I’m standing in a Nordy’s dressing room, head cranked over my shoulder, and spot – ugh – dimples on the backs of my thighs (despite the tennis and hours of gym time), I feel … well … not young. And then there are those moments when, waiting in the pickup line at my child’s school on a sunny day, I peek into my car’s rearview mirror and am aghast to see all those little wrinkles around my eyes. When did that happen?!

Okay, so we all grow old. And if we have enough money, time and initiative – not to mention good genes – we can delay the inevitable. I’m certainly not immune to wanting to look good for as long as possible. I purchased my first wrinkle cream just this past year. The thing is, for me and for other women I know who are around my age, the mind has a way of numbing itself against the sting of getting older. We care about aging gracefully, but – miracle of miracles! – we also have a sense of humor about it. We are inclined to sit around (maybe after a couple glasses of wine) joking about wrinkles and dimples and “that crepey skin above the knees,” that one friend recently lamented over.

I remember sweating over how I looked as a teenager, even as a 20-something. I’m relieved to be free of the anxiety that comes with the pursuit of perfection, however it is perceived. The truth is, all I want is to be and feel healthy. If I can avoid the serious ailments that seem to lay in wait for us “mature” women, I can certainly deal with the inconveniences of aging. It’s a journey: a funny, poignant, intriguing journey that we’re all on – together.

Fabulously Yours,

Karen Reed-Matthee
Editor

©August 2006 Caliope Publishing Company