wrinkles are roadmaps of where life has been.

i have a subscription to More magazine. it's actually a magazine meant for women 4o and over. yes, i'm 32. i don't care. i love it. it's filled with sassy, smart, successful women who have been up and down and over and out. yeah...it still has it's issues. most of the 40+ women are still too damn skinny to serve as a fair representation of the general population (especially women who have been through menopause), but trust me. pick it up, and you'll see that it's a huge improvement over the vapid shit they try to sell us young 'uns, and...it gives me something to look forward to. i've always been coined a "late bloomer." fine. if i can bloom like these "crones," i'll happily concede my tardiness in the greenhouse of life.

anyway...i discovered in it's pages a wonderful new Dove ad campaign for their Pro-Age line. i love it. Pro-Age instead of Anti-Age...get it, get it, get it? anyway, i went to their website to see if they had something online that i could link to, and i guess they actually shot a commercial, but they weren't allowed to air it.

OLD (-ish) WOMEN NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!! HURRY! COVER THINE EYES! THE SIGHT OF SLIGHTLY SAGGY SKIN AND AGE SPOTS IS KNOWN TO CAUSE IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME AND SOME FORMS OF CANCER.

i think it's absolutely lovely and about damn time. appreciating the beauty of the aging body is not so different from appreciating the beauty of all different body types. it's all about expanding our concept of beautiful to include instead of to exclude. can we please stop acting like life is one big sorority rush?

i think of all of the older women in my life, and they're not less beautiful than the young ones...they're different. my mother's knuckles were lined with deep crevices she blamed on 20 years of dishwashing. she hated them, but tracing those crevices with my fingers while i massaged her hands with Soft Sense lotion when she was sick is one of my most vivid and beautiful memories. i memorized those wrinkles like a blind man memorizes braille. as for myself? i love the way i look now more than i ever have, and yes, i have creeping crow's feet, gray hairs and stretch marks.

anyway...

check it out, and be sure to check out the "reaction to the commercial" as well. i can't decide whether i pity or i wanna smack the blond woman. you'll see what i mean. eh. i'll choose pity. it hurts my hand to smack a computer screen.