What's In a Number?

Does the number on the scale make a difference? Does it really matter what size you wear?

Intellectually, I know that a person's actual weight does not matter if you are healthy, active, have muscle tone and your clothes fit the way you want them to.

I also know that clothing manufacturers randomly assign a number -- or a size -- to a piece of fabric cut and sewn to fit specific dimensions. Women everywhere obsess about what the number on that piece of fabric is rather than on how well it fits or if it is even flattering. We've all seen people cram themselves into clothes that are way too small just so they can say they wear Size X.

Unfortunately, I'm not immune.

When my husband and I got married 25 years ago, I was way too thin. I look at those pictures now and think I looked rather anorexic. At a good 10 lbs too thin, I wore a size 6 most of the time. I don't recall ever wearing anything smaller than that.

Right now I weigh 20 lbs. more than when I got married, and I could still lose 10 more lbs. I'm not at my optimum fitness level nor weight and yet, I usually wear the same size I wore way back then.

Saturday my sister and I went jeans shopping. The pair that fit was a size 4! When I made a comment about them being mismarked, the dressing room staff person offered to find me another pair, just to be sure.

"No," I said excitedly. "If a 4 fits, I'm buying it!"

Like I said, the number doesn't matter -- but I'm still not immune!

Old Hands? Wash Dishes

Do you remember the many Ivory dish soap commercials from the 1960s or 70s where viewers were asked to decide which hand belonged to the mom and which to her adult daughter? Or, like the one embedded here, where women try to determine each others' ages based on how young their hands look?



The solution is always that by washing dishes with Ivory, homemakers will have very young looking hands.

I don't remember how old I was when these types of commercials were popular, but I definitely had no idea how someone's hands could make a person look old. My thought was that hands don't really wrinkle or get saggy like faces, so having young-looking hands would be easy.

In the last year or so I have learned exactly how hands can reveal age! My ever-present nemesis -- the age spot -- is popping up all over the backs of my hands. They are not very big yet (not as big as the ones on my face), but I can feel them and I'm sure they will grow. And no matter how much you moisturize or if you wear gloves in the winter, wrinkles happen -- even on the back of hands. (Don't even get me started on my cuticles.)

So as I look at the backs of my spotted hands, realizing this is just one more indication that I'm getting old, I have an irrational thought -- I should have washed more dishes!
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I probably should have mentioned the enlarged knuckles and prominent veins before I blamed all of the "age" indicators on my spots.

Who Are Those Old People?

My son goes to the same high school I graduated from in 1979. My daughter graduated from that school 4 years ago.

So, last week I was in the school and discovered that there is a sports hall of fame. Though I did not like high school, it was pretty cool to see that people I knew of (I didn't know anyone cool personally) were inducted. But as I looked at the photos of inductees I wondered, "Who are these old people?" Well, they were my classmates! Some of these old people were even younger than I am!

Let me point out that, even though we live in the same area I grew up in, and my kids have gone to the same schools, I have had very little interaction with anyone I graduated with. I did not particularly like high school and have been to no reunions. (The stress would kill me.) Well, it wasn't entirely my fault that I didn't go, I was invited to only two of six reunions.

I do occasionally run into people I knew in high school. The couple I recognized look exactly the same. Maybe I see others all the time, but I just don't recognize them -- because they are old.

So the answer is -- those old people are people my age who graduated from high school with me!

I Am Too Young to ...

I've been thinking about it for a while and it is finally here. My list of "I am too young to..."

• stop wearing high heels with blue jeans.
• be a grandparent.
• give up camping.
• stop racewalking.
• give up white water rafting.
• win my age group in a half marathon. (Maybe when I’m 80.)
• wear bifocals. (I can't give up my contact lenses, even if I do need "cheaters".)
  
• be cantankerous, and have people think it is charming or cute.
• wear orthopedic shoes.
• stay home on a Friday night.
• give up happy hour.
• have to stop drinking red wine, quit eating eggs and watch my dairy intake.
• give up my dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail, the Grand Canyon and Machu Picchu.
• have age spots and crows feet.
• wear “mom” jeans.
• stop coloring my hair.
• watch the new Price is Right or Let's Make a Deal.
  
• need hearing aids. (My kids would disagree with this.)
• let myself get fat.
  
• have a daughter graduating from college. (She graduates on June 12.)
• stop dreaming.

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13545847@N00/2548546586/in/pool-girlsinbluejeansandhighheels.

Where Did my Eyelids Go!

As I was applying my eye makeup the other day, I had a rude awakening. I put on the eyeshadow, opened my eyes to check it and the color disappeared. Somehow, unnoticed by me, my eyelids have gotten so heavy the top totally covers my lid! I have my Grandma's eyes!

It's funny how it happened so gradually I didn't even notice it was progressing. And suddenly -- whammo! No eyelids!

A couple of years before my mom died, she had complained about her eyelids. Apparently the lids were so heavy, she was having difficulty opening them all the way and it was interfering with her vision. She had talked about having eyelid surgery, but I can't remember why she didn't.

Though I find it extremely annoying, I'm not sure I will ever have surgery. I have this fear of having a perpetually surprised facial expression. And I keep thinking about all of those famous people who have had really horrible results. If someone who makes millions can end up with bad plastic surgery, what hope would a middle class, middle aged woman from Ohio have?

I'll just have to get used to having my mom and now my grandma looking back at me from the mirror -- and I will probably save lots of money on eyeshadow.

Friday Night, Looking Young

Friday night I went out with some friends and the friend of a friend I'll call Carl. We were having a great time consuming "beverages," joking around and discussing the really crappy music on the jukebox. It was the discussions about music that caused Carl to turn to me and say, "How old are you?"

Let me point out that I was the oldest person there and nearly everyone else was between 7 and 19 years younger. (OK, Gary is not chronologically that much younger, but mentally he is much more youthful and cool than I am.)

When I told Carl I am 49, he was genuinely surprised and made a comment that I took as shock and awe! (That's how I heard it.) He thought I was much closer to 40! From previous blog posts, you already know that I don't normally believe people who guess me too much younger than what I am, but Friday I believed him.

So, Carl has become my favorite "friend of a friend," and I am choosing to remember him as a totally sober, clear-headed, honest and very astute person. (It's my story, I can believe what I want.)
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Decided that from now on, all official photos of me will be taken in bars after I've had a beverage or two. The crow's feet look OK and I am loving my hair!

I was in Love with Bobby Sherman

A couple of years ago some co-workers and I were talking about teen idols and I gushed about Bobby Sherman. The entire group looked at me with blank faces -- no one had ever heard of him. It was one of my first "God I feel old!" moments.

Though Bobby was known for songs like Julie (Do you Love Me) and Easy Come Easy Go, his performance career was not as long lasting as some others who were teen idols in my day. David Soul, Bobby's co-star in the show Here Come the Brides, was great in Starsky and Hutch. Lots of much younger women know about David and Shawn Cassidy. The members of the Monkees have tried comebacks a few times. (Davey Jones was so cute!) And there are tons more who have never gone away.

Bobby slowly disappeared and as I got older I kind of forgot about him.

He was a little bit different from other idols of his time. After guest starring on the show Emergency, he became interested in emergency medical care and law enforcement. In the early '80s, he even became an emergency medical technician and is now a sheriff. How nice is it that he is in his 60s, has a real life and is still cute!

(Still, it feels a little weird that the cute guy I had such a crush on is now over 60!)