Youth and Beauty

Recently, I looked in the mirror and gently pulled my cheeks up ever so slightly. Like magic, I looked ten years younger! And for the first time in my life, I thought that a face-lift wouldn't be such a terrible thing.

Usually, people think I look younger than I am. Maybe it's because I'm so short and adorable! I think I also have a fairly young sounding voice, especially when I speak French (go figure). But once in a while--and it's always in the summer when I don't bother to colour my hair or get it styled and my face is all red and sweaty from the heat (I hate the heat!)--someone will make a comment about what a nice grandmother I am. It has happened twice: once in 2005 and once in 2007. Hopefully, now that it's 2009, it won't be time again!

Yes, I "let myself go" in the summer. But maybe not this year. I do feel much more positive about myself and my appearance, so maybe I'll get my hair cut and coloured just before I leave on vacation.

I want to look good: healthy, trim and energetic but that doesn't take away from the issue of youth and beauty. I also want to accept my age and the changes that come with it. It's rather difficult in this world.

Someone I know through work who was a fashion model probably 20-odd years ago (I don't exactly know when, I'm estimating) just got a nose job. She's still thin as a rail, takes incredible care with how she dresses and works out as if the world will disintegrate around her if she doesn't. She did have a rather unusual nose, but not ugly in the least. She now has a very ordinary nose, but her mouth seems to have changed. I would go so far as to say that it looks like she had an incredibly successful operation for a harelip. There's just something weird about the new shape of her mouth. Did she get a lip job too? No idea. What's most interesting is that she has not actually admitted she had her nose re-done. She just had a terrible case of sinusitis, which made her face really puffy. I'm sure she did have the sinusitis, but there was definitely more than that involved in the strange change in her face!

So there you have it: a fashion model who's still not happy with herself. And dumpy little me, trying to look long and sleek...Ain't it the way in our society?

I can go on all I want about wanting to improve my health by losing weight and it's absolutely true, but I also want to look like more of a knock-out. I want people to look more favourably on me, and that's the way it goes in our world. Good looking people do get better treatment than people who are downright ugly. Most of us, who are in the middle, just want to look better. And all of us--whether we're good looking, ordinary looking or totally unblessed by the gods of beauty--want to look young.

Do I wish I were younger? Yup. But I'll really try to forgo the face-lift. I'm worth more than that!