SENIOR CHIC
Simply Said: Life is not a "dress rehearsal"...unless you are into the concept of reincarnation; this is it! Using a flower metaphor..."We must bloom where we are planted" A 93 year old model, Iris Apfel, said,"I like to wear what I like or do what I like or decorate as I like!" As I approach my "Expiration Date" I have even more a hunger for truth than ever before.(Some might call it "desperation" but that is only because I don't know if anybody cares what I think); it is frustrating when I have so many more things to sort out still.
P.S. Before we leave; Iris has a Documentary coming out in May (Nationally)let me quote her once more: "The greatest faux pas (French for mistake) is looking in the mirror and seeing somebody else!"
ONE VERY IMPORTANT RULE: It must feel "right" to you. Style is an attitude. In 1969, Jenny Johnson, an English writer, inspired the start of
"The Red Hat Society" with the lines of "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/ with a red hat that doesn't go!"
Hard to believe, but women 55-64 spend the most of any age group on clothes. Second most? Women ages 65-74! Examples are all around us...Helen Mirren at age 69 is the "Face of L'Oreal UK"...66 year old Jessica Lang models for Marc Jacobs...71 year old Joni Mitchell for ads by Yves Saint Laurent....on and on. The article I got this from is NOT AARP...it is Time Magazine April 20, 2015...
I have always hated the word Senior Citizen! Yes, I am a citizen & a senior but I much prefer the new term..."Senior Chic"...you can't help getting oldER...you can do a lot about getting OLD. The body needs "maintenance" but also the MIND. Some facts I have discovered:
(1) "Inside every chronologically old person is that young person wondering what the Hell happened?" I know I did not originate this fact but it is true. Inside, you still retain that hurt or joyous child. I please mine with ice cream & shopping!
(2) You start using "unconscious" comparison with everyone that is "supposed" to be your age; almost becomes an obsession to see how you
compare to them...sometimes you win; sometimes not. At an "Oldie Goldie" concert you are amazed at how old everyone ELSE seems to you.
What are THEY doing at this concert!? Seriously!!
(3) You start noticing that in Family Reunions they put all the relatives next to you in pictures & ask for a copy!
(4) You check out the daily "Obit" page tho you try to just briefly look at it because it makes you aware you are nearing or past your "Expiration"
date.
(5) You use the "defense mechanism" you have used all your life in bad situations...Humor; being an intensely honest person I don't deny my age.
But, also being a Positive person I don't want others to be affected or bummed out so I turn it into a "monologue" that amazingly does work for me to accept it.
(6) I do try to demolish some of the stereotypes that are false.
I am a BOOK almost written...Smarter than I was ever told...compassionate to the point I really "feel" someone else's pain...
a voracious reader of NON-Fiction with a hunger for learning that would shame a sponge! (Even "SpongeBob")...a Faith in Gods Grace to see me through anything life can throw at me...I can be afraid to go down a slide(remember Debbie?)but willing to fight the DEVIL himself for people I love. I am glad I have lived my life almost exactly the way I did. I am glad that in this life I found out what LOVE felt like..how good Forgiveness was for me and finally NOT apologizing for the childlike awe I had at Christmas, Easter, the Universe, Teaching & Learning, Unconditional loving of family
and the astounding realization of inter-species love(NOT aliens! My Pets!) Life is a blessing that I want to embrace and cherish with every breath I am allowed. Mrs. Birge 2015 Age 74
P.S. Before we leave; Iris has a Documentary coming out in May (Nationally)let me quote her once more: "The greatest faux pas (French for mistake) is looking in the mirror and seeing somebody else!"
ONE VERY IMPORTANT RULE: It must feel "right" to you. Style is an attitude. In 1969, Jenny Johnson, an English writer, inspired the start of
"The Red Hat Society" with the lines of "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/ with a red hat that doesn't go!"
Hard to believe, but women 55-64 spend the most of any age group on clothes. Second most? Women ages 65-74! Examples are all around us...Helen Mirren at age 69 is the "Face of L'Oreal UK"...66 year old Jessica Lang models for Marc Jacobs...71 year old Joni Mitchell for ads by Yves Saint Laurent....on and on. The article I got this from is NOT AARP...it is Time Magazine April 20, 2015...
I have always hated the word Senior Citizen! Yes, I am a citizen & a senior but I much prefer the new term..."Senior Chic"...you can't help getting oldER...you can do a lot about getting OLD. The body needs "maintenance" but also the MIND. Some facts I have discovered:
(1) "Inside every chronologically old person is that young person wondering what the Hell happened?" I know I did not originate this fact but it is true. Inside, you still retain that hurt or joyous child. I please mine with ice cream & shopping!
(2) You start using "unconscious" comparison with everyone that is "supposed" to be your age; almost becomes an obsession to see how you
compare to them...sometimes you win; sometimes not. At an "Oldie Goldie" concert you are amazed at how old everyone ELSE seems to you.
What are THEY doing at this concert!? Seriously!!
(3) You start noticing that in Family Reunions they put all the relatives next to you in pictures & ask for a copy!
(4) You check out the daily "Obit" page tho you try to just briefly look at it because it makes you aware you are nearing or past your "Expiration"
date.
(5) You use the "defense mechanism" you have used all your life in bad situations...Humor; being an intensely honest person I don't deny my age.
But, also being a Positive person I don't want others to be affected or bummed out so I turn it into a "monologue" that amazingly does work for me to accept it.
(6) I do try to demolish some of the stereotypes that are false.
I am a BOOK almost written...Smarter than I was ever told...compassionate to the point I really "feel" someone else's pain...
a voracious reader of NON-Fiction with a hunger for learning that would shame a sponge! (Even "SpongeBob")...a Faith in Gods Grace to see me through anything life can throw at me...I can be afraid to go down a slide(remember Debbie?)but willing to fight the DEVIL himself for people I love. I am glad I have lived my life almost exactly the way I did. I am glad that in this life I found out what LOVE felt like..how good Forgiveness was for me and finally NOT apologizing for the childlike awe I had at Christmas, Easter, the Universe, Teaching & Learning, Unconditional loving of family
