Mirror, Mirror

I recently celebrated my birthday. I do realize this is a good thing to celebrate, the gift of another year of life, etc. I love talking to both of my parents on that day as they give me tidbits of information about the day of my birth like I was the biggest baby in the nursery that day, 9 lbs! Is that a good thing? If I had to survive on my own in the wild I suppose I would last a little longer than the average baby. What is decidedly not a good thing is the whole aging process that usually comes along with the birthdays. Getting older is oh so exciting and fun until when one day it isn't really. Looking at my reflection in the mirror has become especially unpleasant. It is strange to imagine yourself looking younger than you actually look. The question is what to do.

I began to realize that people on television that I know I watched when I was in elementary school look younger than me! What is their secret? good diet and excercise? Super genetics? True, some don't actually look human, but some look really good. Being a woman of action, I decided to go straight to the source and find out. It just so happens that my daughter Kristen starting working in a plastic surgeon's office. She began to educate me on all the latest treatments,of which there are many, to restore one's youthful appearance. This sounded encouraging so off I went for my free consultation. Of course I was secretly hoping that the doctor would tell me it is far too soon to even think about doing anything. I absolutely would not benefit from anything they had to offer. This was not the case, not by a long shot. He took one look at my face and told me about some very natural injectables that would help temporarily and then followed with what I really needed was a cheek lift! He told me in detail what happens to one's face over time and it's not pretty. I began to feel like Eve in the Garden of Eden when she was being tempted by the serpent. What harm could one or two syringes of very natural gel injected into your face do? They also showed me beautiful photos of women who had had the cheek lift. What's wrong with wanting to be restored to a more youthful appearance? Thankfully I'm a big chicken and said I wanted to think about it. Notwithstanding the rare occasional blindness (yikes!) from the substance going into the wrong place that I found on google, I had to examine the spiritual ramifications of how far one goes to look good on the outside. I had to face the fact that I'm terribly vain and do not like aging, especially when many women around me are not aging along with me.

As a Christian woman, we are told that beauty comes from within, a gentle and quiet spirit to be exact, wow. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find an injectable for these qualities. I realized that aging gracefully means accepting the process of aging and doing this without complaining. Easier said than done I say. Lord willing, I will have the chance to try.