As I compose this, I kid you not, I am sequestered in my master bathroom coloring my hair. Let me give you a visual - I'm standing at the sink, typing, wrapped in an old towel, trying desperately not to move too much as to not drip (hair color is messy, especially with long hair), and anxiously awaiting this torture to be over. T-Minus...
I'm not coloring because I feel spunky and need a change. I'm coloring because I HAVE TO. My roots are showing and it truly is a HAVE TO situation. I can't hide the enormous silver stripe running front to back along the top of my head any longer (and boy am I good at hiding it, but that's another story for another day perhaps). I'm starting to look like "Lightning Rod Reg" from the 80s movie The Great Outdoors!
The major difference is that Reg got his streak because he had been struck in the head by lightning 66 times! My reason isn't nearly as interesting, or dangerous for that matter. Mine is simply due to the graying gene that runs on my father's side of the family and age.
At least once a month, I have a date with L'Oreal's Feria #50. It sucks. But, what sucks even more, is the thought of accepting the inevitable and going gray naturally. I'm simply too young to be gray headed! I can live with the little laugh lines that are starting to show up on my face because, ya know what, I earned every single one and don't regret any of the smiles or laughs that summoned their appearance! I can also live with the fact that my skin is getting drier as I age and that Eucerin and Aveeno are going to be a very close friends of mine from here on out. But, this graying thing, that's a whole different matter altogether. I'm not willing "gray gracefully." Granted, there are some people who have pulled off the graying thing quite nicely...
...I'm just not ready to join them right now.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind aging in general. I didn't freak out when I turned 30. I didn't mourn the passing of my 30s. I embraced turning 40 and celebrated the event by escaping the Kentucky winter and trekking south to Florida so I could swim with the manatees on the day I turned the big 4-0!
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| Me celebrating the BIG 4-0! |
As a realist, I know that time only moves in one direction - forward - and therefore I see no real reason to get hung up on days or even decades gone by. As cliche' as it sounds, I honestly try to appreciate each stage of life that I am in.
I don't, however, appreciate the accompanying gray.
Well, my time is up. My monthly torture session is over. I'm off to the shower.
Any of this sound familiar? What do you dislike most about aging?
As always, feel free to leave a comment and thanks for stopping by!
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