WIP

Touching 30

I stood in the restroom here at my work, looking into the mirror while I put my mascara on and dusted my cheeks with makeup. I considered my age and smiled. This might come across as weird, but I don't mind being as old as I am.

Yes, I do have dark days still - and this is going to be embarrassing to admit. When I was a teenager, and even in my early 20's, I tended to look at 30 as the point in life when women became uninteresting. I mean, I would pick up a book, see the protagonist was in her thirties, and I would put it down and move along. Shame on me.

Guys are allowed to be interesting at 30, because that is the time when they have settled down and turned into the people that they are going to be. As far as I know, women go through that same stage when they are 20. <- Though, technically, I was 22 when that day happened.

Women - when they turn 30 or start getting up to that age - always seem to be fighting aging skin and hair, sagging figures, ticking body clocks, dancing babies... and they are also fighting to keep their men from losing interest and yenning after 20 y/o college girls. <- That is such a depressing prospect!

So sometimes, I'll sit cross-legged on my bed and DWELL on the fact I'm stuck on a one way street in a runaway Toyota whose brakes don't work at all.

But...

Looking at myself in the mirror I noticed that my face has more character than it had when I was a round-cheeked twenty-year old. I feel pretty and confident behind my face, and that was definitely not going on when I was getting into my 20's.

A couple days ago, I saw a story about the French President's wife, Carla Bruni. She was a model at one time - and had guys eating out of her hand. Now she's in her forties, she has had extensive work down on her face (from all appearances, anyway). She had botox to tighten up her forehead and collagen filler put in her cheeks and lips. She also had a lot of makeup on in a failed effort to hide the crinkly skin under her eyes.

Maybe I'll feel differently when I start getting up closer to my forties... but right now, I see the beginning changes in my face, and I like them. The only thing I'm frantic about preventing is the undereye problem. *grabs eyecream and smears on generously*

But seriously -

I agree that most women find themselves in their early twenties. But it is possible that there are some who don't actually feel like swans until much later.

While I'm dithering thusly, the point is that I can see myself down the road starting to write novels with thirty-something protagonists. IMO, it is just as important a find-yourself time as turning sixteen.