Learning to love getting old

Mel took this of me last week

When we were driving back home from our attempt to reach Excelsior Pass last Thursday, I saw in Melanie's phone that she had taken this picture of me. When I first looked at it, I thought I looked great, and asked her for it, which she willingly provided. But then when I got home and looked more closely at it, I realized that what I liked best about it was that I thought I looked younger than my years.

Yes, when I looked more carefully at it,  I knew that nobody is going to be able to take a picture of me as an elderly woman that will make me look twenty years younger. It's a conceit I think many seniors have: that if we just get the right angle in a picture, we'll be able to disguise our true ages. Instead of looking at the photo and conceding that it shows a very fit septuagenarian, all I saw was the wrinkles, white hair, and the veins sticking out on my arm. Vanity!

Fortunately for me, I have this blog to help keep me honest. Yes, I carry around some vanity, but I am always looking for ways to let it go and cultivate humility instead. As I get older, it gets a little easier with every passing day. A delightful quote for today:

An example I often use to illustrate the reality of vanity, is this: look at the peacock; it's beautiful if you look at it from the front. But if you look at it from behind, you discover the truth... Whoever gives in to such self-absorbed vanity has huge misery hiding inside them. —Pope Francis

:-)