This is what I found on the counter after my Sweet Honey had left for work yesterday.  It's still there, I can't bring myself to put it away.  Sometimes it's the little things that melt my heart the most.

Please leave me some comments, let me know what you think.

Things that suck about being 43: #2

Things that suck about being 43:

#2

Gray hair, facial hair, body hair, thinning hair.  There are hair issues.   Trust me on this.  To varying degrees we will all experience one or all of these.  No one warned me.  That last statement isn’t entirely true.  My Aunt warned me, or should I say cursed me, “Do you see these chin hairs, Cristy?  You’re a Howland; you will have them one day! HAAAAAhahahahahaaaa (insert evil laugh here)!”  I didn’t believe her.  I should have listened.

I got my first gray hair a matter of weeks after my firstborn son was born.  I blame him for at least half of the subsequent grays.  Some of the rest belong to his brother, and his step-sisters, and of course my husband, my ex-husband, and my husband’s ex (ok, she gets a lot of blame!). 

Grey hair is pretty straight forward.  You either live with it, and look 10 years older than your husband who is actually 6 years older than you, or you fight it, and dye, dye, dye.  I have been dying my hair for most of my adult life, except for when I was pregnant or breast feeding;  I have dyed my hair consistently since I was 16 years old.  I have been every color except or black.  The problem with dying is that my hair always fades from whatever color I have chosen (which varies with my mood), to brass within a couple of weeks.  Dark brown , light brown, blonde, hombre, highlights, streaks, you name it, it all goes to brass.  Not pretty.

Then there’s the curse of my Aunt.  Facial hair!  I realize that there are a number of you who never suffer from this evil bane.  You all can kiss my heinie, and skip to the next paragraph.  It’s bad enough to have a little mustache or a few extra hairs here and there, but why are there hairs coming out of every mole and freckle on my face?  WTH!?!?!?!  I had finally come to terms with this when I realized that some o the hairs growing out of the moles were turning white!  What the actual F*@%?  I am conflicted.  Am I happy that the hairs are less noticeable, or am I sad that I’m so old that the scary mole hairs are turning white?

Body hair, ugh.  Dip me in Nair.  Seriously.  My mother once told me that she was fine with the grey on her head, but when her pubic hair turned grey, THEN she felt old.  The second wisest thing she ever told me.  

Thinning hair.  CRAPITY-CRAP!  Another family curse.  My grandmother, bless her, was the sweetest woman, and GOD blessed her with a permed see through halo of fuzz on the top of her head.  There wasn’t a lot to work with there.  I fear the fate.  I started to notice thinning around the age of 38.  The vitamins, careful brushing, and trimmings help.  The biggest factor (for me) that contributes to hair loss is stress.  If I can keep the stress to a minimum, I notice a real difference.  I guess Gramma was really, really, really stressed. 

Things that suck about being 43: #1

Things that suck about being 43:

#1

No one told me that I would run out of time to do crazy stuff.  There is a socially accepted and very limited window of time wherein you are able to do certain things like get a nontraditional piercing, dye your hair an odd color, take a road trip to nowhere, wear strange clothes/shoes, wear bikinis, swear.  Had I known, would I have done more of them when I was younger?  I think I may have been more conservative at 18 than I am at 43 (and I moved 2000 miles away from home, went to Art College, and lived in a hotel). 

Unfortunately, what I want to do is never the thing I should be doing as a 43 year old mother of seven and soon to be grandmother of 3.  I want to dye my hair purple, no blue, maybe magenta!  I want to get my ear pierced – forward helix.  I want to wear too much makeup, too much jewelry and tight jeans.  I want to leave town and all this adultness for a long weekend.  I want to ride a motorcycle to nowhere.  I wish I didn't look foolish in pigtails.  I want a henna tattoo.

I’m profoundly sad that I am too old or too fat to do so many fun things.  What would the women at church think?  What would my family say?  I would look like the crazy old woman who is trying too hard.  I hate it when people try too hard.  I think I may have missed my window.

                                                                                                                    maybe not...