It is late and I am sitting here with my laptop on my knee and a cup of chamomile at my side. After a lovely giggly evening, a friend has just left and the house is still reverberating with laughter: the garden twinkly with fairy lights and the house sparkly with love. Though it is past midnight I am not tired. Goodness did you just read that? For the first time in heaven knows how long, I am not tired! It is quite the oddest feeling to be alive again: a something worthy of champagne and celebration with friends and family gathered… but there is no champagne, only tea and no one but me and a darling little boy asleep upstairs -friends and family no doubt already tucked up in their beds. This feels like the old me: committing my own private little celebrations to the screen like this. The only sound in the living room, my own fingers racing across the keyboard and the snore of a tiny lady kitten more dependent on me than I ever remember my own son being: he who was borne with a fierce sense of self and a mild intolerance for a Mummy who loves him so much it sometimes feels as though her heart might just burst through her over-ample cleavage… It is late. I should go to bed. Perhaps then it is a sign of getting older, this resistance to the pleasures of lavender scented sheets? This urge to squeeze every last minute out of the day and mark the clanging of the church bells at midnight? Suddenly I am possessed by the urge not to waste a moment: to seize the day and linger on into the night, dwelling and smiling and staring at all that I have created: my son, my house, this life… I am scared of ageing. To the horror of everyone I know I keep dallying with the idea of having Botox pumped into the lines that have burrowed their way on to my forehead: as if vanity could deplete the trauma of the last few years and make me whole again. As if frequent dalliance with a cosmetic surgeon would be anything other than a foolish exercise in self-delusion! A preposterous idea if ever there was one! And so here I am instead: blinking into the flicker of a honey scented flame and resolving to make the most of what is: to spend entire evenings lost in sheer gratitude for a house that hugs me and a little boy that adores every wrinkle on my silly face. To face my middle youth with dignity and screaming, giggly laughter. To wear my wrinkles with pride and force myself up the apple and pears to bed. Sweet dreams my darlings.x
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Treasure every line as the banner of a battle fought and won. You’ve paid for every bit of it; don’t even think of paying money to smooth away the evidence of all you’ve gained!I found a shiny, silver strand on my 29th birthday, right in the front, and now it has over half a dozen friends in the same spot. I’m well on my way to a legitimate *streak* of silver at my hairline, just to the right of center. I’m 32. I consider them a badge of honor. Wear your lines with pride, my friend!
I am heading for 42 this year and feel exactly the same, afraid of not being me anymore, afraid of looking in the mirror and not recognising myself. toying with the idea of botox and afraid of that too x
I’m not so much afraid of aging as I am of the falling apart that comes with it. I don’t mind the white hairs that have sprung up amongst my lovely auburn tresses or the laugh lines around my eyes, but I really detest how my bones ache in the winter and rain. I’m not even 40 yet! I started to read this at 1:45 in the morning but thought I’d better sleep since the puppy and the daughter have become early risers.
I’m 42 and must say I’ve felt exactly the opposite about aging. I’ve rather thoroughly enjoyed it so far! I’ve finally let go of so many silly hangups and worries that I carried around in my younger soul. I’m no longer afraid to be me and am finding myself rather a person I like being, finally! So glad to hear you are finding yourself again after a tough time of it. Keep your wrinkled chin up and keep going right along with us all!
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Treasure every line as the banner of a battle fought and won. You’ve paid for every bit of it; don’t even think of paying money to smooth away the evidence of all you’ve gained!I found a shiny, silver strand on my 29th birthday, right in the front, and now it has over half a dozen friends in the same spot. I’m well on my way to a legitimate *streak* of silver at my hairline, just to the right of center. I’m 32. I consider them a badge of honor.
Wear your lines with pride, my friend!
I love the fact that you wrote this after midnight and I am reading it 3.12am! Maybe we are both getting old…or maybe not 😉 Xx
I am heading for 42 this year and feel exactly the same, afraid of not being me anymore, afraid of looking in the mirror and not recognising myself. toying with the idea of botox and afraid of that too x
I’m not so much afraid of aging as I am of the falling apart that comes with it. I don’t mind the white hairs that have sprung up amongst my lovely auburn tresses or the laugh lines around my eyes, but I really detest how my bones ache in the winter and rain. I’m not even 40 yet!
I started to read this at 1:45 in the morning but thought I’d better sleep since the puppy and the daughter have become early risers.
I hate the thought of aging – the greys appeared during my first pregnancy and I spend a fortune in hair dyes hiding them!
I’m 42 and must say I’ve felt exactly the opposite about aging. I’ve rather thoroughly enjoyed it so far! I’ve finally let go of so many silly hangups and worries that I carried around in my younger soul. I’m no longer afraid to be me and am finding myself rather a person I like being, finally!
So glad to hear you are finding yourself again after a tough time of it. Keep your wrinkled chin up and keep going right along with us all!
I live for botox,lol! get it if you want it I say! xx