33. How Old Is Old?

One day, in the fourth grade, while my teacher Mrs. Winterbottom was writing on the blackboard, something quite seized my attention. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her underarm "dingle-dangle." She had this amazingly long, fleshy flap of skin that swung back and forth, increasing furiously the faster she wrote. I was literally mesmerized by this phenomena. Wearing a very short sleeved, sheer pink nylon blouse... very feminine and perfectly groomed, there was no indication that she cared one whit about showing her arms.

Now that I’m probably close to the age of my teacher of some forty-seven years ago, I’ve been reflecting back on how "old people" are perceived today, or more importantly, how we perceive ourselves. I can tell you one thing, there aren’t too many women around who are willing to show off their "dingle-dangle" to the world. We have all definitely become a great deal more conscious of our body image. After all, nowadays we have a forty year old Madonna, a fifty year old Susan Sarandon, or a sixty year old Tina Turner as role models, all of whom can even make many men envious of their shapely arm contours.

I continued to reflect back, from my young girl days, on other characteristics that I began to associate with older women. Things like wearing way too much perfume, make-up that makes one look garish, or having a hair style that doesn't move, made me promise myself to be mindful of these same things when I grew up. With older men it was balding heads and pot bellies.

Now that I’m all "growed up," my concerns are a little in reverse. My concerns are whether or not my skirts are too short or if I can still get away with this "messy, just out of bed look" hair style. Never mind that I’m basically lazy and hate spending any time fixing my hair. I don’t want to appear ridiculous, as a caricature of an older woman trying to look much younger. One of my sons, upon returning home from being away to college for several months, greeted me with, "Gosh Mom, can’t you wear your skirt a little shorter?" I was caught off guard by his remark to say the least. Of course this is the same son who chides me if I even come close to "dowdy."

Basically I’m not really that super conscious of my personal image. Comfort is my main priority. When I did fashion design I was ten times more conscious than I am today. The problem is, retail caters so much to a youthful society that I think we all get caught up in making choices that appear the lesser of two evils. One is damned if she does, or damned if she doesn’t try to keep a look that is current. Of course, with all this "retro" dressing, deja vu isn’t the most fun.

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