Some friends of ours have are visiting in two weeks. I'm excited, because I haven't seen them in a long time. Their daughter lives nearby, and that is pulling them here. I've never even met their son, who is eighteen. These are friends from graduate school, so it was long enough ago that I had a flash that I would look strikingly old to them. We have gray hair, wrinkles, the whole shebang, and they are maybe in their early fifties. Short of getting emergency cosmetic surgery, there's not much I can do to soften the blow. Oh, well, this is down side of people not seeing you frequently. The shock is great when the real thing is before you. I don't see any of this as an obstacle, but I am very self conscious this week about my age. First, the young woman giving me her seat on the train, then the senior discount offered when I didn't ask, then the mirror, now I'm seeing myself as I am now, and I guess I'm not so comfortable in my own saggy skin. I'd love to be beyond these petty concerns, but that would take a brain transplant.
Then I get on the scale and I'm five pounds up, so no more carbs for me. They've been slipping back in my meals while I wasn't looking - well, okay, I put them there. Back to salads and imagining myself as an impala or some other graceful grazing animal on the plain. No more thinking like a lion about hamburgers. And it wouldn't hurt to run or at least walk fast, as if I was that impala with a lion after me. It's a jungle out there, if you're my age and watching your diet.
No comments:
Post a Comment