Then Along Came Christie

I'd like to write about something that is happening all around me, does not include me, and is detrimental to the mental and emotional well-being of women of age, which does include me.

Just six decades ago, sixty was the old eighty. Thirty years ago sixty was sixty. By the new millennium, with so much focus on living a healthy life-style, sixty was starting to look a whole lot like fifty, naturally. All was good in the land and women who followed the edicts of healthy living were happy just to hear,"Oh, you're sixty? I would have guessed you to be ten years younger." But then, along came Christie and now...

SIXTY IS THE NEW THIRTY

I saw the stunning Miss Brinkley posing in a one-piece bathing suit--she normally wears a bikini, she said, but her children insisted on the one-piece for the photo shoot--on the cover of People Magazine two months ago. Her sixtieth birthday--that's 6-0 years old--was February 2nd and the male editors in charge thought it would be fun to flaunt this six-decade-old phenomenon in front of its 46 million subscribers--most of whom are women who, in their most imaginative, creative, delusional, or drug-induced state of mind, would never, ever believe they could look like Christie Brinkley...at any age.

People Magazine boldly announces, "STILL STUNNING IN A BATHING SUIT AT 60!" People's sister magazine, Sports Illustrated, boasts, "She has the legs of a 30-year-old and the face of an angel. She's what you aspire to look like at 60. She's mind-blowingly beautiful."

If you'll please excuse me. I must throw up now.

Okay, I'm back. It's my gag reflect. It acts up on occasion. Like, for example, when a young, shallow, out-of-touch-with reality editor of a sports and T and A magazine says, "She's what you aspire to look like at 60!" Really? Forget sixty. I didn't look like that at thirty. The transformation from an ugly duckling to cute was the most I could ever hope for, and in that years-long journey, I learned that beauty is superficial and fleeting. Is beauty that important? What about the heart and mind of those who aspire to be the best person they can be, those with integrity, compassion, empathy and an abundance of love for themselves and others? What about substance and depth of character?  Is what truly matters the exterior shell that is so gorgeous it blows people's minds, or is it the peace of mind and calm resolve that accompany a beautiful soul?

So, is Christie Brinkley, whose picture on the cover of People Magazine has been altered, tweaked, and Photoshoped, what we women of age want to aspire to look like at 60? 

You bet your sweet drooping buns it is!