Yesterday I had an epiphany: I realized that we leave in a society where it's OK to ask all kind of intrusive questions about someonelse's life (and, unfortunately enough, half of the pips I know do it on regular bases) but there is one simple question: "How old are you?" which we have been summoned to avoid like a plague. We'll rather go through any extensive trouble of recording and computing the simplest information we can squeeze out of each other, to figure our ages, rather then simply asking that question. I believe that I can count on the fingers of one hand solely, how many times I was asked it during the past 20 years (filling out the date of birth in any application, does not count, please!).
Yesterday, at a medical check-up the doctor asked me casually: "How old are you?" (while he was holding my chart in front of him!?). I answered "Thirty..." in the virtue of the past 10 years inertia, and then I paused and said..."no, I'm forty,...yes, I'm forty". That is the first time since I turned 40, almost half year ago, that I heard myself saying it.
Truth be told, I was amused at the sound of it. I am one of those persons which will gladly announce her age like some sort of accomplishments, but the society I live in denies me this pleasure.
At least, I hope that finally some people will start taking me seriously. I am tired of being treated as a little girl.
See, looking young is not always desirable, although as the author Anne Barone says in one of her best selling books: "In the USA, both youth and money are highly respected. A woman of certain age medically edited to look younger than her daughter not only gets points for youthful appearance but also demonstrates she had the money for expensive cosmetics service". Or as the same author summarized it later: "the USA is the country where Too Much is Never Enough." Anne Barone is an american best selling book author and has a fun-to-read blog at http://www.annebarone.com.
Yesterday, at a medical check-up the doctor asked me casually: "How old are you?" (while he was holding my chart in front of him!?). I answered "Thirty..." in the virtue of the past 10 years inertia, and then I paused and said..."no, I'm forty,...yes, I'm forty". That is the first time since I turned 40, almost half year ago, that I heard myself saying it.
Truth be told, I was amused at the sound of it. I am one of those persons which will gladly announce her age like some sort of accomplishments, but the society I live in denies me this pleasure.
At least, I hope that finally some people will start taking me seriously. I am tired of being treated as a little girl.
See, looking young is not always desirable, although as the author Anne Barone says in one of her best selling books: "In the USA, both youth and money are highly respected. A woman of certain age medically edited to look younger than her daughter not only gets points for youthful appearance but also demonstrates she had the money for expensive cosmetics service". Or as the same author summarized it later: "the USA is the country where Too Much is Never Enough." Anne Barone is an american best selling book author and has a fun-to-read blog at http://www.annebarone.com.
