Day 37: You Don't LOOK 40

"You don't look like you're 40."

I hear that all the time. Then I get up as close as possible to the bathroom mirror and stare at the bumps on my skin and the wrinkles in my forehead and the gaping pores on my cheeks and I see a forty year old woman. It's amazing how the body forsakes you as you grow old. The skin doesn't bounce back like it used to and the joints take a while to warm up some days. On those days I feel like a forty year old woman.

But then I look around the world and wonder. What does a forty year old woman look like? Does she look like Mary J. Blige or Sandra Oh? Does she look like Christina Applegate or Jada Pinkett Smith? Yes, yes, she does. And she looks fabulous.

I return to my mirror. I examine the scars and dark circles under my eyes and that one white eyebrow hair. Wait! Is that REALLY a white hair in my left eyebrow? Yes, it is. I suppose it's providing a balance for the dusting of white that has appeared along my hairline above my right eye. What does a 40 year old woman look like? What is she supposed to be? Does she look like me? Yes, yes she does. And she looks fabulous.