by Melody Hatke

Created on: May 24, 2009

I just celebrated my 48th birthday, I shouldn't say celebrated, I sort of cringed into it. Yes I am noticing more and more wrinkles each day. And it is definitely harder to get up in the morning with each little ache and pain. The closer I get to 50, the more apprehensive I am, what will happen next?

I am lucky that I have a few grey hairs, in fact I was looking at my hair one day in the mirror, and thought I had glitter in my hair! I tried to pick out the piece of glitter, and found that it was actually a grey hair! I laughed at myself, and then cried, because I was getting old.

I have always looked very young. At age 19, someone told my mother, she thought I was 12, now this really infuriated me. But my mother said, "Some day you will enjoy looking younger." At age 26, I was carded at the grocery store for a pack of cigarettes! At age 31, I was asked for I.D. to buy a lottery ticket!

Then I turned 40, no one would believe I was 40! I heard constantly, you don't look 40! So I would say, "What does 40 look like?" Really, what does 40, look like? Am I supposed to have totally grey hair, dentures, and sagging skin? What?

I had a small wrist injury at work, they sent me to the occupational health clinic, to get checked out. The doctor came in, looked at my chart, then looked at me. He then asked, "How old are you?" I said, "Forty." Just waiting for what I knew was coming next, the doctor said, "No! I know 40 and you are not 40!" Okay, I thought, why do I even bother telling the truth? Why don't I just lie about my age, like I am sure many other women do? I had to pull my diver's license out, and prove to the doctor, that I was indeed 40 years old! I do get a kick out of telling people, that I was carded at the doctor's office.

Lately, I am starting to realize what my mother meant by, "Some day you will enjoy looking younger." I yearn for someone, anyone to argue with me about my age! Or to hear those wonderful words, you don't look that old! Or I never would have guessed you were that old! Alas, I fear those good old days are over, I am finally starting to look my age. I am starting to show the wear and tear of the past forty-eight years, and from raising three children.

That's okay, because I am now looking forward to my grandma years! I will not mind looking like a grandma, and I figure I earned every wrinkle, and grey hair, and I am proud to wear them!

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