WHAT NOW?!
Good Morning!
The sun was shining all day long, the trees are turning
amazing shades of reds and golds, the Indian Summer is still in the
air for the day and I’m feeling positive, how about you? So I start
the whole “getting ready to leave the house” routine, right. The
shower, hair washing and conditioning, the body moisturizers, the
15 hair products I need to use to make my hair look even one tenth
of what it did when I was younger almost for got the
er! Never admit to being old but you can always say I’m a
little older now. Some times that’s obvious because you
try and get out of a chair and can’t stand up straight immediately
(you can mask that by pretending you’re looking for something on
the floor) or you start moving and the joints in your knees and
hips are screaming, “slow done dummy”, while you smile and ignore
the pain until you’re alone in the elevator or out of sight of
others and then you grimace and rub your leg or back. Anyway,
getting back to the “getting ready to go out” ritual. I finish with
the hair, finally, and start looking for something to wear. I kept
all those clothes I wore when I was 25, well, maybe I’ve even added
a few because I can’t wrap my head around the fact that
I’m……older! So I try on and change outfits 25 times and
spend another 30 minutes on my make-up. It never fails, gals, just
go out one time to run a quick errand without your hair and make-up
and you will run into 10 people you either know or wish you
knew.
Ah, there it is: DON’T DO # 14!
If you don’t want to go through the “going out
ritual” make sure you only go to
drive thru’s for picking up prescriptions, drive thru banking or
maybe a friend’s
house when you are absolutely positive that no one else is dropping
by! Of
course, you just might be one of those lucky women of a certain
age” who
still looks flawless by just brushing your hair and walking out the
door. If you
are, you know the rest of us hate you! Just
kidding.
So, after the ritual, I decided
yesterday to try another adventurous lone meal out, especially
since it was such a gorgeous day so I decided to go somewhere
that
had a nice view even if I couldn’t sit outside due to it
being a little chilly. I found a rooftop where I could look out
over the city and being alone I sat at the bar. Like
most people, I started a conversation with the young woman working
behind the
bar and the more we talked, as the place got busier and began
filling up I
wondered if bartenders get tired of having to be “entertaining”. It
seemed to
me that this particular young woman was trying to be everything
that each
individual customer wanted her to be, sweet (for those patrons of a
certain
age), sexy (for all those young men vying for her attention),
fast and professional
(for all of those business types entertaining clients) and
also a everybody’s
mom, sister, girlfriend, psychiatrist and best friend.
WHEW! Guess what, so
do we ladies! I realized something I should have known long ago, we
do that
all the time, try to be sexy, efficient, the family psychiatrist,
great cooks, well
read and interesting, best friends when needed, sisterly advisors
and terrific
lovers (should we actually get the opportunity to share that
particular skill with
a real live breathing person whom might appreciate it)! That’s
exactly what we
do every single day.
Ah, but that is part of the on-going joy of
being a woman, yes? I’ll be honest, I
wouldn’t trade places with any of the guys I’ve known or met. I
can’t imagine
what they must go through, I mean all that crotch grabbing, keeping
up with
all the scores and all the players of all those sports teams,
downing shots as
fast as or faster than their friends, making sure you can eat and
smear your
entire body with BBQ or mustard from a dozen hotdogs or, the
ultimate “male
thing”, chomping on a big fat cigar to prove you’re “one of the
guys”. Nope,
thank you but no thank you!
I looked around and as I watched all the back slapping, shot downing, and
after the game quarter-backing; I gazed out the window, sipped on my glass
of Sauvignon blanc and munched on a delicious Salmon salad. That’s when I
knew I’d rather just be me, a woman of a certain age, one who is still looking
forward to more adventures and enjoying the day.
