The Fading Bloom

I started this book a year ago. Not sure what I wanted to do with it - here it is; each week I'll post a new chapter...

The Fading Bloom

Introduction-2012

Here I sit at the computer just a few months away from turning sixty.  When I finish this short book I will be well into sixty.  Hard to admit there are probably more years behind me than in front of me and even harder to know those years are now the fading bloom.  Seems like just yesterday I was a young budding girl full of adventure, enthusiasm and sex appeal.  Now it’s about being careful not to hurt myself, being much more reflective than enthusiastic, and my sexuality is more un-peeling than appealing. It’s a b---- getting old!

One of my favorite authors, Nora Ephron passed away this year at the age of 71.  She was far too young to go.  Her book, I Hate My Neck left a lasting impression on me. She wrote a candid and hilarious book about women, aging and dealing with all the tribulation associated with moving past their prime.

She opens the book with a look at our necks and all the things we women do to hide the fact that our neck is beginning to sag.  It’s the beginning of the return to turtlenecks, scarves and high collared shirts. In her hilarious way she reminds us that growing old is no fun, and anyone who says it is wonderful is downright lying.  Sure we may be wiser, have more money and don’t have the stress of youthful competition, but we also don’t have that lovely long neck and smooth firm cleavage.

All of my close girlfriends range from age fifty-five to seventy-five years old.  Now we may think we’re still hot and in sense we are, but the tell tale signs of aging are something none of us can hide.  I can tell you these women have depth, wisdom and are beautiful, and this is all true, but the facts don’t change; we’re getting older and sometimes the wisdom and the depth doesn't seem like quite a fair exchange for the perky tightness of our youthful bodies and sexy attitudes.

I have to agree with Norah.  It’s no fun getting older.  There are some parts I like, but for the most part the body is a little more tired, the mind is a little less competitive and the mirror a lot less forgiving.  But there are also many things about being younger that I would not want to relive. I ask myself,” Does this make me caught in some kind of a time warp where I can’t go back because it’s too much work and I don’t want to go forward because it’s too easy to slip into the aging process of becoming a senior?”

 No, it’s made me pause and decide that how I want to spend my time is not looking back and not fearing the future, but with a reflective eye on what I wish I had known then and what thoughts, experiences, observations and wisdom I have gathered when it comes to being a woman and aging…Yes it’s called aging, and we can give it all the other names we like, but let’s face it ladies…our bloom is fading, but that doesn’t mean the flowers dead!