The Beauty of Aging

We are born with soft, smooth, sensitive skin. As we age that skin toughens up and gradually wrinkles. It's part of nature's plan. Of course, there are things we can do to help preserve a youthful appearance. You know them - healthy eating, exercise, sunscreen, natural skin creams, managing stress, and yes, genetics do play a role. However, the bottom line is, if we live long enough, we eventually look old. So why are so many people having facelifts if a mature appearance is inevitable?  


According to the American Plastic Surgery Statistic Report, 113,000 facelifts were performed in 2010 at an average of $25,000 a piece (and that number increases every year). In case you don't have a calculator handy, that's a total of  nearly three billion dollars. Add in botox, lip plumping, eyelash extensions, nose adjustments and we've made a dent in the national debt. Okay, maybe a dimple. Regardless, it's a lot of money to fight a losing battle. People don't look the same at 70 as they did at 30.
  
What made me think about people wanting to memorialize their youthful face?

I was at the Banff Film Festival shown in Saratoga Springs this past Sunday and watched a four minute film called, Ski Bums Never Die. A 75-year-old woman, Mary Woodward, was featured. She had short grey hair, an effervescent smile, eyes that sparkled with energy and a face covered with wrinkles. She instantly became my hero. Mary is in excellent shape, skied swiftly down tree lined mountain slopes and laughed often. Check out the award winning  film below.

The face of a truly beautiful 75-year old woman.

I then went home and tuned into the Grammy Awards. It's pretty safe to say that just about everyone over 60 had a facelift. I could tell by the star's high cheeks that looked like they had been implanted with ping pong balls and the super-sized depressions on either side of their chins - the classic look of  a face that has been cut, stretched and tucked. Check it out:

Sorry Dolly. You're not alone.

It's just my opinion, but I really do think it looks like plastic wrap was pulled tightly over a face following surgery. So after comparing the skier to the stars, I made a firm commitment to follow the path of Mary Woodward as I journey through the afternoon of my life. Hopefully I will live my days with compassion, honesty, wellness and enthusiasm so my beauty seeps out from my inside. I don't want to rely on anesthesia, knives and bandages to feel pleased when I look in the mirror.

What do you think? If someone handed you a check for $25,000, would you dart to your nearest cosmetic surgeon or spend it on your favorite pastime for many years?

KICK BACK SONG OF THE WEEK:

I'm going with Lady Gaga's Born This Way. The outrageous entertainer has publicly stated that she will never have a face lift. Her words, taken from Popeater, "I think that promoting insecurity in the form of plastic surgery is infinitely more harmful than artistic expression related to body modification."

Love the dancing!!!

KICK BACK BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Back When We Were Grown-Ups by Ann Tyler. She is another woman that, although successful, has chosen to grow old with grace and style.

Ann Tyler at 71

The Baltimore Sun's Review of Back When We Were Grown-Ups:

“STUNNING . . . ‘Once upon a time,’ the story begins, ‘there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.’ . . . With Rebecca Davitch, Tyler has created a character who is brave enough to look back on her life and to imagine herself making different kinds of choices. Brave enough to wonder what honesty looks like, whether there is ever really a single distillation of self that is unshakable and true. . . . Anne Tyler has a talent for spinning out characters . . . who go on living long after their stories end.”


A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA:

"If you invest in beauty it will remain

with you for the rest of your life."

Frank Lloyd Wright