Trying to age with grace

During the months before the Academy Awards, I was reading Entertainment Weekly’s article of the nominees for best actor and actress. As I looked at the glossy photographs of the Best Actress nominees, I began to notice a pattern. The women that were over 40 years of age all had utterly smooth foreheads. Not a trace of a wrinkle or worry line to be found on their lovely faces. When I turned the page to the Best Actor nominees, their countenances were rugged, all wearing the clues of time.   Even Leonardo DiCaprio, whom I remembered first seeing as a gangling teenager in What’s Eating GilbertGrape , was still looking handsome, but definitely matured.

Just when I was about to resign myself to the fact that actresses will always look impossibly ageless, I remembered something. I flipped back a couple of pages and found the photo of Dame Judi Dench. It was so refreshing to see her fine laugh lines around her eyes and glistening shock of grey hair. She had aged naturally and was absolutely looking terrific at age 80! 

She is truly aging gracefully and fearlessly. I hope to look as good as she is when I reach that age! I’m taking a lesson--when I look in the mirror, I won’t ardently search for the new set of wrinkles, but appreciate the whole picture in the looking glass.