Plowing The Furrows Of Time

I have a little furrow right between my eyebrows. When I see it, it represents plowing the field with concern over loved ones, squinting from sun sensitivity, concentration on what I am making and years of deep thoughts and theories.

I am going to be 46 years old next month and everyone tells me I don't look that old. I don't know, I am not sure what that old is supposed to look like anymore. I don't feel that old...I don't think. I suppose I could get Botox to erase that little furrow and the other lines and wrinkles I am slowly developing, but I am not sure why I would. Now that's not to say I don't have a problem with aging. I think every woman feels her mortality when she looks in the mirror and sees those little lines. I realize I am not 22 anymore and I never will be again. Of course there are days when I would love to have that face and body back. That's human nature and we live in a society that is geared towards youth and beauty.

But here is the thing...now think really hard. What does the forehead of each person you know look like? Do you know? I don't. I have no idea what kind of lines the people I know have in their foreheads. I don't look at them that way. In fact I can only think what one person's forehead looks like. That forehead belongs to Candace Bergen. I think she is a beautiful woman. She always has been and still is. But I saw her in the last episode of "Boston Legal" and I thought how incongruous her face looked. Her forehead was smooth...unnaturally so, and the rest of her face reflected a woman who has lived her life. It didn't make her look any younger. I don't think a few lines would have made her look any older or detracted from her beauty either.

Botox scares me anyway. I have a feeling in 20 years a lot of people are going to be walking around with foreheads full of cancer. Botox is not a healthy thing for the human body to process. I recently read that people are injecting it into their armpits now so they don't sweat. I thought perspiring was a needed body function?

I don't know what the obsession with trying to have a smooth forehead is. While I am willing to use creams and stay out of the sun for the most part, I am not willing to inject, cut, slice or dice on my face. I am going to age and wrinkle and I may not like it, but it's ok. I intend to wear my barnacles of age with pride, because I don't see a need to change it. I earned those lines, and I am going to let nature take it's course and give me the character I have earned from years of living my life.