C’est Vrai, it’s True
It is a fundamental truth that I should divide the Silver time into two, distinctive parts.
Truth. The fifties were absolutely fabulous. I was one of the lucky ones with Menopause, sailed through it, lost weight, got fit and felt invincible.
In the early part of my sixties, my body began sending me different messages. I can’t quite explain it, almost overnight, my eyesight deteriorated, the knee’s literally creak and the hearing … or is it just the automatic ‘what?’ habit, seems foggier. The body squared off, too much wine added the calories and I sort of settled for the ‘well, why not, I deserve the little piece of cake and crumpet.’ Still living in the fantasy that I would get back to my old self in a heartbeat, which of course, will not happen without hard work and a shut mouth. I am now a square dumpling.
Seems unfair that decades of growing taller, physically I begin to shrink, and is this a metaphor for our spiritual lives too? With all the adding, building and conquering of the past, we now begin to let go, lose friends, lose relationships and truth, at times lose hope.
Resilience steps up to the mark. At times I find ‘we’ tend to swing between humour or complaining.Humour? Images of pot bellied women, big behind women. women with breasts on their stomachs and timber thighs. Now depicted with bottoms papoosed in sensible, beige bloomers. We are into the sensible mode, sensible shoes, nightclothes and underwear. Must I forever banish the penchant for matching lingerie? I cannot sir, I fear I cannot yet succumb to the sensible beige.
Jumpers and prunes aside, we either joke about dilapidation of self, or complain. I bust with beautiful people stamping their lives with ‘old.’ The day begins heavy, the day ends with a sigh. All kind of Fawlty Towers to it.
The amount of times I am reminded of ‘When I am old, I shall wear purple.’’ verses, is trying. Fine for a while, not as a mantra for getting on with it.
Rather, give me Helen Mirren on the runway in Paris, high heels, black eyeliner and killer attitude.
Make it stand out
Helen Mirren walks in the L’Oréal Paris Show.
I begin a new education today. For nigh on eleven years I have been with the same company, the same website and times have changed. Not so much the complicated pages, but a simple format for a simple, yet engaging life.
Learning to master a website on my own, discovering new routes and interesting stories in London, trying new tastes. Snapping back from the settling I may have fallen into, and booking all those flights I have vouchers for.
It is true, c’est vrai. I am a senior citizen, there are times I curse the belly and patronising of others. There are days getting out of bed is something I prefer no-one to see, and still refuse to buy the practical stuff. There are days when being being on my own is a struggle, and days when it is a gift. Truly motivated by women who have faced loss and turned to travel, mostly solo, to re-focus, re-adjust and own their futures.
Let us share stories, delve and deliver and own our own lives.
Image: The daily mail and own.
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Have to keep telling myself that ... and you should too