I worked long hours this week, finished a project up and didn’t get too much beauty-sleep and it shows. It shows in my face; I look tired and I can’t wait for my date with the sandman tonight.
One of our neighbor kids spend the morning with me in my workshop. He is 6 years old and a smart ass in the making, I adore him. He is a very funny kid, he loves to talk and asks many questions. Sometimes he sits there and looks at me in a very mature way and he wrinkles his forehead, when he tries to figure something out.
I looked at him and joked, “Stop wrinkling your forehead, you are too young for wrinkles…they come later,” and he looked at me like he was studying my face.
“Does it hurt?” he asked and I felt a little bit lost, didn’t know what he was talking about. “The wrinkles! Does it hurt when you get wrinkles?”
“No, it doesn’t hurt to get wrinkles,” I answered, but his question took me a little bit by surprise and I thought about it some more. I thought about the wrinkles in my face. I don’t have too many -yet- and some charming people still guess my age in the late 40, but I am 52 years old (or young at times) and my face matches the number. Yes, I do have wrinkles.
There are the wrinkles on the corner of my eyes; they were given to me, because I love to laugh. Then there are the ones around my mouth -they turned up overnight right around the time when I turned 50. I don’t think they come from laughing, because they make me look sad.
I definitely get a wrinkle award for the two big, vertical lines on my forehead. I got them very early in my 30’s, because I am exactly like the little boy and wrinkle my forehead, whenever I try to figure something out. I like to think that the depth of these wrinkles show the depth of me. I question a lot and I try to figure things out. Maybe they are character wrinkles?
It didn’t hurt to get the wrinkles around my eyes, but how about the ones around my mouth? I am not talking about physical pain, but how about the pain we feel, when we are mourning, grieving and worrying? There is a lot of that going on in a lifetime. Maybe these are the pain-wrinkles, because we felt hurt quite often?
Maybe it does hurt to get wrinkles after all, just in a different way the little boy thought it would and I am not going to tell him, he will it figure it out by himself.
The Wrinkle
Happy was I as I trotted through life
Like a pen in a bottle of inkle
Till – why was I born?
Along came the dawn
Of the day I discovered the wrinkle.
A shadow descended, I suffered such gloom
Like a star that no longer could twinkle
I felt so bereft
I had flipping all left
On the day I discovered the wrinkle.
I tugged at my forehead to pick out the crease
As you would a recalcitrant winkle
But joy was elusive
The evidence conclusive
On the day I discovered the wrinkle.
Resigned to my fate, I tried a weak grin
And resolved to abide by my crinkle
When wow, Abigail, let me tell you a tale
Of a smile that ran off with a wrinkle.
If you live long enough you will get wrinkles. No, they do not hurt, but you look in the mirror and say ” who are you?” You don’t get that way overnight.
No, it’s quite a process isn’t it?
Most excellent post! I never regret my wrinkles. I always figured it showed you lived life in ALL its emotions. A beautiful 40+ woman with no wrinkles is like a blank page in a book waiting to be written on.
I feel so sorry for the so called celebrities who run around with smooth, frozen faces and pumped up lips.
What’s the saying, “Don’t complain about growing old. It’s a privilege that’s denied to many.” or something like that.
True, so true.
I don’t mind the wrinkles. I mind where the entire face is falling down. Gravity is my enemy.
You know, I looked at lack and white pictures of old women and men with wrinkled faces and let me tell you. They are beautiful. I wish there would be coffeetable book or a blog about how beautiful some of the old faces really are.
Maybe that’s what we need in contradiction and as a contrast to the forever young faces on the glamour magazines.
I guess I should consider myself lucky that I’ve lived long enough to have wrinkles, but I don’t like them. Not one little bit.
Yes you should and you look great in any age 🙂
Our faces are a map of our experiences aren’t they? 🙂
Wrinkles are proof of a life well lived.
A lot of women have wrinkles and suffer and complain a lot about them …..
These women are always under treatment….
Does this mean that wrinkles hurt?
It seems they do….
And think that the boy’s question should be intended as a sort of metaphor…
Many, too many have a problem with aging, they suffer the loss of youth and forget to welcome a new chapter in their life.
Agree!
I don’t want to grow any older and get more wrinkles! But luckily they don’t physically hurt, good point!
Thank you~!