Thursday, August 25, 2011

On Age and Running ... Out of Time

Pic by my daughter. Aug. 2011
Abraham Lincoln said that by forty you have the face you deserve.

Today I turn 48, and I´m ok with what I see when I smile into the mirror, dimples, crows-feet and all. I wish I had liked myself as much when I was 15, when instead I felt ugly and inadequate. Alas, The perks of youth are often wasted on the young!

Just in case I may be deluded, I ask my friends that if they ever see me wearing blue eyeshadow, black eyeliner and false eyelashes, caking on the makeup, teasing my hair and wearing leopard tights at 70, to please slap me. That´s what friends are for! Only Cher can pull that off – for now, anyway.

I don´t believe life begins at 40 or at 50 but I also know I´m not the same person I was at 18, 28 or 38. At 18 I dreaded turning 20 and at 48 I´m ok with nearing 50. In fact, I´m looking forward to it.

After my training run - Aug.25.2011
Of course there is a “but”: I´m running out of time. We all are. I suspect that´s the reason why I don’t watch TV. It´s a HUGE time-waster. There are so many other things to do; in my case there are books to write, kids to raise, races to run, places to see, people to love. My Spanish grandmother will be 95 in January – I need to visit her soon.

If I momentarily feel over the hill (like next to a 20-year old at a club), I remind myself that one day I will look back at the picture taken today after my run and think: “I was so young then”, so I better relish that now.

At 48 I´m running my first half-marathon in November … Maybe at 50 I´ll run my first marathon. In the meantime, I´ll take one day at a time. I hope you do too.

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Success Diaries will be a book (Diario del Exito) published late in 2011 by ediciones Obelisco.

3 comments:

  1. Very nice Lorraine, you made me reflect on my own life. I am 27 years old and I often tell myself: when am I my going to start living? This is mainly in part that I'm still a student (MBA), but I strive everyday to live a little more and enjoy the moment. Thanks for the lovely post!

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  2. Thank you darling. As I posted before at 29 I thought "It's now or never" and wrote and published my first book at 30. 18 years and 17 books later ... I still think it's now or never in every way. Besos!

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  3. This blog post put a smile on my face. Partly because of what you, in your hard earned wisdom, stated and partly because I very much enjoy looking at photos of you like I enjoy contemplating beautiful works of art. And women in their 40s and 50s are certainly works of art!

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