Gravity

My butt is sliding down the back of my legs, and it seems like it happened overnight. Even in my twenties I never had an Elle McPherson booty, but it was a respectable behind. I admit, I did my Jane Fonda videos (followed by burrito runs) in college and have exercised a few days a week for most of my life, but I never had to put much effort into maintaining the “lift.” Now gravity has taken its toll…almost overnight. Like a naughty kid who hides behind the corner to jump out and scare you, gravity has grabbed me. The feeling that I’ve been ambushed is the most unsettling to me. One day I’m zipping through the tiny print on the back of a motrin bottle, and the next the directions on the pancake mix refuse to come into focus. I’m stretching my arms as far away as they’ll reach and squinting my eyes in disbelief. I fought wearing glasses for about a year because I felt like my third-grade teacher when I had them on. Turning the print size to extra large on my ipad worked just fine. But when it got to the point when I had to ask my teenager to read the menu to me in a darkish restaurant, I had to give in to the granny glasses. Mine are actually quite stylish, a gift from my best friend from Anthropology. 

I have had the same five best friends since high school 30 years ago. We are all learning to embrace this next phase of life. As they sing in High School Musical, we’re all in this together. And boy, do we get a laugh out of it. On a recent shopping trip, we practically peed our pants in the dressing room at a bra store. That same night we howled as we used our iPhone flashlights to read the menu at Babbo. We have our grievances too, and agree that it can be tempting to let conversations spiral down in a swirl of negativity. So when we get together, we set aside 10-minutes to gripe about things like age spots from teen sunbathing and the complications of impending menopause. Whining is a slippery slope, and the grumbles can drone on for hours if not reigned in. So we are choosing to look forward and dream big together. Our connection makes this evolution palatable to me— sharing this inevitable human experience with my besties, graying roots and all.