Pitter from Pat
To wrinkle or not to wrinkle ....
With age comes the inevitable sagging of body parts and of the skin that holds them in place.
Often I find, when chatting with a group of female peers, the conversation eventually lands on the topic of face-lifts and other body parts that we believe could use a nip or a tuck. The discussion usually begins with one friend lamenting about her eyes needing a bit of a boost, while another wants a chin lift, and by the time the banter ends we are usually in agreement that only a full-body lift will truly fill the bill.
One recent conversation with a colleague left us both in stitches… from laughter not surgery. The subject came up while we were reviewing an advertisement as a possible client for Radius. The longer we stared at the looming “before and after” shots that were featured in the ad, the more we were tempted to find out about the “minimally invasive” procedures.
My friend suggested that if she could just get a small eyelift, she would be satisfied. But I cautioned that she should be careful not to end up with a lift that would give her a permanent look of surprise…as if she just walked in on her own surprise birthday party! She confessed that after practicing in a mirror, she could obtain a somewhat lifted look by raising her eyebrows and opening her eyes very wide.
“Try concentrating on holding that pose while talking with a client,” she laughed. “Sometimes during the course of my presentation, I catch my face going back to the “slouch” mode, and I have to quickly snap the brows to attention. After leaving the appointment, I have wondered if the client noticed my facial antics, but I console myself that either he/she will have seen a more youthful representative or believed I had a tic. Either way, I had their attention or their sympathy,” she joked.
After we enjoyed a bit of humor about our bodies and what we would do if we had extra cash on hand, we resigned ourselves that with age comes the inevitable sagging of body parts and of the skin that holds them in place. So we decided that because of the lack of finances and not having a week that we could afford to take off for hiding/recuperating we should capitalize on the advantages of getting older and leave the “nips and tucks” to those more fortunate. We identified some of the qualities of aging as being wisdom—wish I had had it when I was twenty and raising a family, patience—still acquiring that one, and tolerance—nothing seems to bother me anymore unless it is immoral, illegal, or goes against the ten commandments—makes getting in a dither about my son’s long hair in the 80’s seem trivial now.
“But son,” I would exclaim, “People will think you are on drugs or won’t take you seriously.”
“Then they (people) will just have to get to know me, mom,” was always his retort.
The qualities that develop as we age are probably why grandchildren get away with so many things that our children did not. Growing older helps us discern what is important and what isn’t.
On the other hand… a brow lift, a chin lift, or a whole body lift wouldn’t really interfere with the characteristics that seem to improve with age. I can still be wise, patient, and tolerant while looking like a hot babe…can’t I? In fact, I think the new look could even enhance the qualities…people then might ask, “Wow, how did you become wise so early in life?”
Can it hurt to just investigate the possibility…after all it’s only a phone call? But then again, for now, I’ll just practice my friend’s solution—lifting my brows and widening my eyes—when people are looking, and save the phone call for another day. It is said; “You are only as old as you feel,” and today I feel fairly young. Tomorrow? Let’s just say…I’m keeping the doc’s number handy.
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Patricia Kirby, Editor
Patricia Kirby brings several years of journalism, editing, and publishing experience to Radius magazine. She is a published writer and former co-editor of Hoosier Outdoor magazine, with a distribution throughout the mid-west. Patricia is also a former Editor and Publisher of the Hoosier Topics newspaper, distributed countywide in Putnam County, Indiana, and the Springs Valley Herald, French Lick, Indiana. Her tell it like it is writing style offers humor and a bit of satire in her monthly columns, "Pitter from Pat." She has done extensive traveling, including a month in the Outback of Australia to accompany a study group of Aboriginal tribal music.
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