While visiting my daughter in Florida last week, we went to
the beach. I sat there next to the sand
castle watching my granddaughters play gleefully. I also watched the people strolling by.
I read someplace that once a woman is 40 she shouldn’t worry
about how she looks in a swimming suit, because the only people looking at her
are other women over 40 who are making comparisons. Personally, I was pondering how I compared to
other women over 60 and decided that those of us who even dare to wear a
bathing suit, all look alike.
First of all, we have no buttocks. The fat deposits that once gave us nice
little round tushies have either been overcome by gravity and slumped into our
upper legs or have run around to the front and deposited in our tummies. A little round tummy isn’t nearly as
attractive as a little round tushy, but that is what we now have.
The next characteristic is somewhat dependent on size to
begin with, but everyone’s boobs sag. No
amount of underwire or wide straps prevents the downward pull. The bigger they are to start with, the lower
they hang. Attempting to overcome this
by tightening the straps, results in major creases in the shoulders.
If either osteoporosis or poor posture has caused some back
curvature, the boobs and belly meld into a shapeless mass on the front of the
body. There is probably still a waist
under there someplace, but it has disappeared inside the amorphous frontal
lump.
Meanwhile those sweet young things, who are still in their
prime, strut their stuff oblivious to what awaits them.
I noticed several people watching me with amused expressions. Where they laughing at my beach body, or had
they never seen an old lady make a sand castle before?
