The Beauty of a Wrinkle

The Beauty of a Wrinkle

“Age should not have its face lifted, but it should rather teach the world to admire wrinkles as the etchings of experience and the firm line of character.” ― Clarence Day Jr.

    Putting on eye shadow has never been a difficult task for me.  Well, it wasn’t difficult until about a year ago when I pulled the brush across my eyelid and a scary thing happened.  My skin moved with the brush as it always had, but it didn’t bounce back.  It reminded me of the pull-on pants my boys wore when they were little:  too many times of pulling resulted in the band losing its elasticity.  I could change the boys into another pair of pants or use a safety pin to secure the waist, but for my eyelid I knew there was not a quick change or an immediate repair.  I like thinking that the lines in my eyelids, along with several other lines, are etchings of experience, firm lines of character.  I even think wrinkles can be beautiful.

When Clarence Day, Jr.’s book Life with Father was published, Day was only months from dying at the young age of 61.  The book became a best seller, still being referenced almost 80 years later.  It makes me think of people around me, whose talents are not properly appreciated, when I think of Day.  He was a graduate of Yale who once worked on Wall Street, leaving his greatest treasures in the form of writings not appreciated until he had died.  I’ve written before about the work people have performed in their earlier years, before they were wrinkled and viewed as simply one of the elderly, and I’ve mentioned in other writing how important I think it is that we take time to hear the stories of someone’s life when they were younger than they are at 70, 80, or 90.  There is such value in the work people have performed, and like Day, it is often unappreciated until they are not here to thank and to celebrate.

A few years ago, I noticed an older friend had begun to stoop and move more slowly.  He couldn’t stand nose to nose with me.  I watched as people spoke not to him, but over him.  It became my goal to bend down and meet his eyes when I spoke with him.  We talked about our love of photography, his love of and my interest in genealogy, and the lack of care people in general have for people who aren’t able to be on their level.  As is often the case when we meet ‘older’ friends, I had no idea what he did before he was a retired person.  It turned out he worked with NASA after having served in the Navy.  I was so glad I asked! It is worth our time to ask people questions about themselves, and it is worth the time to put yourself at someone else’s level.  Being on someone’s level might mean physically being able to look someone in the eye, but it also means that one person might not hear as well, which requires slower and louder speech on the end of the speaker, or that one person might not think as quickly as she once did and requires your patience.  Life is full of wrinkles, and wrinkles are reminders that life has been lived.  Remember, there are stories where there are wrinkles.

I love the thought that the elderly and children seem to get along so well.  I wonder if it is because they feel the rest of us don’t hear them, don’t see them, or don’t have time for them.  You might not be the person rushing through life, but I sometimes find that I am, and I am choosing to make some changes to be the person I would rather be.  I love children, and I love older people, and I find myself enjoying the company of those two groups more than the folks who are hurrying through life with time for only themselves and their goals.   All of that hurrying can create a lot of stress.  Stress, sun, and cigarettes create lines earlier and are not as interesting in the stories they hold.  Covering wrinkles with creams might make the lines fade, but we can’t un-live life, and trying to erase the journey seems kind of sad to me.  I think older skin, softened with creams, lined with stories is beautiful skin.  It holds the stories we might not yet have lived, and the wisdom we hope to gain.

Age is a funny thing, and if you are 20 reading this you have a much different perspective on life than I have at 50, or than my friend Bill had in his 80’s.  I think of how many times we hear the words “If I had known then what I know now…” and the sentence ends with a variety of scenarios that would have been played out differently.  The truth of the matter, though, is that what happened then is why we know what we know now.  Life is a journey filled with happy stories, sad tales, and a few lines.  Perhaps, we should try to appreciate all of the experiences, even if they seem uncomfortable at the time.  Life is a journey filled with happy stories, sad tales, and a few lines, all of which deserve to be appreciated.  Easiest to say when you are 90 and looking at the wrinkles through faded eyesight, age is a gift to embrace, a treasure to behold.

Maybe a face lift is what you think you must have to feel more attractive.  That’s fine, if that’s what you need.  I’ll encourage us all, though, to look at the lines a little differently today.  When you see a face with wrinkles, smile.  You just might be looking at  the etchings of experience and the firm line of character, and that is a beautiful sight to behold!

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Thoughts to Encourage

Joy is the will which labors, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph.~ William Butler Yeats

Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right. - Henry Ford

The best way out is always through. ~ Robert Frost

Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. ~ Theodore N. Vail

Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall. ~ Oliver Goldsmith

You must be the change you want to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

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