Wrinkles in Time

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Aging. Yes, that's the topic that has recently been on my face mind. Have you stopped reading and run for the door? It's an uncomfortable topic for those over a certain age - which I won't set. I think you set your own "cross-over" point. Mine was 36.

When I turned 35, I was the least bit worried about aging. Other than the post-baby weight I was still trying to shed (hey - two babies in two years means I have two years to shed it, right?), I felt young, alive and there didn't seem to be too many wrinkles signs of time. Most of the changes I was grappling with were blamed on the after effects of birthing two children, and not necessarily the clicking clock.

Since turning 36 last May (only 4 years to 40!), I've thought about my age more than ever (well, maybe not as much as waiting to turn 21!). So what does a measly increase in digits have on me? What am I afraid of? I'm afraid that I won't turn heads anymore. That I'll not accept the new changes in the mirror. That my husband won't find me as attractive or sexy. That un-beknownst to me,  I'm stuck in dated styles, looks and ways - and that no one will tell me. That I won't be hip. That I'll suddenly seek cosmetic surgery when I always claimed I'd never do that. 

I have enough perspective to appreciate the knowledge and experiences that come with aging. And I'm thankful for them. I used to say if given a choice of two *magic* pills, one to increase intelligence, one to increase beauty, I'd always pick intelligence. But now I'm thinking beauty....

To get to the sagging bottom of it, I would have to say my struggle is about physical aging, not emotional, intellectual, or spiritual. The latter facets typically benefit from the passing of time. It is about the mirror.

I look at the reflecting glass with more intensity, more criticism. Noticing new age spots, bemoaning my ruddy complexion brought on by mild rosacea (which hits in the 30s) and recognizing new wrinkles like unwanted guest at a party. Lines aren't movie dialogue to memorize, but indentions at the corners of my lips. Bleeding is what your lipstick does.

It does not help when your husband is 6 years younger and just crossed the 30-threshold. My price to pay for robbing the cradle!   

Honestly, I'd love to end this subject on some positive note -- "Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles were." Mark Twain -- or some inspiring self-acceptance moment. Not! The dust has not settled on this struggle for me. Only time with tell.  

"He Won His Battle With Cancer"

Photograph by Bill Cramer for TIME

Got cancer? It's all the rage. Actress Christina Applegate, Senator Ted Kennedy, Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau, columnist Robert Novak are just the highest profile of the 1.4 million Americans who will get a diagnosis of cancer this year. Walk into the oncology waiting room of a hospital and you'll find it hard not to notice the crowd--or the balding heads, the yellow faces, that gaunt prisoner-of-war look of those who are well into their chemotherapy. You stare blankly across the room at the others staring blankly back, everyone silently asking the question: Am I going to make it? When you're facing that kind of primal question, you say to yourself, "Well, at least I'm not alone." And that is precisely the problem. You are not.

                                                                                                                                 Time Magazine September 15, 2008

If you are at all interested in the battle against cancer, you should read this article. Here are some mind-numbing statistics that surprised me, and made me want to keep up the exercise and improve food choices.

1 in 2 -- A U.S. man's chance of facing a cancer diagnosis in his lifetime.

1.4     -- The number of Americans, in millions, who will get cancer this year.

43%   -- Percentage of all Americans who will get cancer, at current rates.

Overall, the death rate from cancer dropped just 5% from 1950 to 2005, the latest available data. During that same period of time, deaths from heart disease dropped 64%.