A BELATED SHARE OF MY BIRTHDAY

At the beginning of the month I turned 47. It was a good day. A quiet day with the people who matter to me the most.

I also took some great photos of the day...

Does age matter to you? My only concern about aging is that I am running out of time to do all of the things that I wanted to do.

SIMPLE WORDS AND NOT AGING GRACEFULLY

Simple words can mean so much. Last night Jarvis told me my hair was "lovely" and was patting it. This morning in bed he said "golden hair, adorable". I love how he gives compliments. I can only hope when he gets older he will continue to do this for myself, and others.

So if you follow me on instagram you will know that opps I went and coloured my hair again. Yeah, yeah, I know I was going to go a 'normal' colour. But life is too short to be boring. 

Think this makes ten or more different colours since I turned 46 in September. Pitty I don't have a photo of each colour. Guess, since Justin is always too busy to take my photo, I should learn how to take a selfie. 

Mid-life crises? Definitely not aging gracefully. 

AGEISM AND AN AGEING ME

A while back, well it seems like ages ago, I wrote a couple of posts about Comments on My Appearance, and How Old is Too Old? At the same time I wrote about how I feel the world has become so ageist and youth culture seems supreme. Various popular media outlets regularly bombard our already increasingly self-centered, youth-obsessed culture with negative messages about aging and the aged. As a woman closer, and closer to fifty I question my worth as a woman. As an 'older woman'.

I went back to edit it, but then I read the below quote from Annie Lennox, and I think her words cover it exactly how I wanted.

"There's this youth culture that is really, really powerful and really, really strong, but what it does is it really discards people once they reach a certain age. I actually think that people are so powerful and interesting - women, especially - when they reach my age. We've got so much to say, but popular culture is so reductive that we just talk about whether we've got wrinkles, or whether we've put on weight or lost weight, or whether we've changed our hair style. I just find that so shallow."–Annie Lennox, who turned 60 in late December 2014

For 2015 can we not just empower other women instead of knocking them down? 


Note: Image not mine, obtained via Google Images. Trying to track original source. 

HOW OLD IS TOO OLD?

How old is too old? Is there an expiry date to when women should stop wearing a bikini? This post on Facebook by Julie Cross, and all of the media attention it is getting has got me thinking. I too am a 46 year old Julie, and I wear my bikini when I go to the beach.

Yup, I am 46 years old, I have had two children and I have a morbid fear of exercise. No, that is probably going too far, but it bores me, and I think why waste time doing that stuff, when I can spend it with my children. I am now also a grandma, so does this mean a bikini is off limits for me?

Justin bought me a bikini, not long after I had Jarvis, and I love it, it is comfy and in my opinion cute. Do I think I am cute wearing it? I actually don't give a damm, I wear it cause it is comfy.

Am I confident wearing it? When I put it on, each and every time, I think about my lumps and bumps, then promptly forget it and go and have fun in the sand with Jarvis. Do I think I get comments about wearing a bikini? I am sure I do but like comments on my hair which I wrote about last week, I have never heard anyone say anything. Besides the only people's opinion that I care about is Tamika's and Jarvis.

At the moment Jarvis's face lights up with joy each and every time he sees my tummy. He will even run at me with joy saying "tummy, my tummy" and want to stroke my belly. So, I guess until I embarrass my kids the bikini is here to stay.

(Oh, and do I have a photo of me in my bikini? Not really, but I did look for one. You will just have to stalk me next time I am at the beach.) 

COMMENTS ON MY APPEARANCE

So, I work in retail. I smile allot. I talk allot...probably too much. But, does this give open invitation to comments about me? About my appearance? Granted most of the comments are lovely and flattering, but then there are a small percentage that are just rude.

If I take the nice. does this mean I have to accept the rude?

On Sunday I changed my hair colour, I thought it was a subtle change, yet it has bought a massive amount of attention.

From the nice. A little girl approached me, and asked what colour my hair was, when I asked her what colour she thought it was she said "princess hair". An elderly lady told me my hair made me look "glowing and happy" and hugged me. Plus, I have had heaps of general comments of people just saying they like my hair.

A few have asked if it takes for ages to do my hair.

To a lady who said yesterday "I like your hair colour, but don't you think you are too old? How am I meant to answer that? Yes lady I think I am too old for this hair colour that is why I did it.

Another lady asked why I was wearing a wig.

Another said, in front of me loudly, to her friend "when someone gets as old as her and does that to her hair it is just desperate attention seeking, she is obviously either gay or single". Lady being either gay or single is not a bad option in this world, and what has that got to do with the colour of my hair?

So tell me, do you think it is okay to comment on strangers appearance?  Especially to their face?