Aging Grace: The Day My Smile Lines Made Me Cry

It started with the mirror.

That strange place that can bring so many tears to so many women.

I had been getting ready for the day – drying my hair and applying mascara (but not necessarily at the same time) – when our oldest daughter popped in for a visit.

Her nearly daily ritual.

Savoury often sits on the edge of the tub and watches me while I get myself ready and we chat.  She’s had this same routine since she was a bitty girl.

Although now she’s 19 and all grown up and, yet, still she comes in.

So we talk – more about women things than girls’ things these days.

And that’s when I saw it.

Saw them, really.

All those swirly lines around the edge of my face.

Surely, they’d been there for some time, but it wasn’t until that morning that I saw them so clearly. So defined. Glaring at me.

Smile lines.

Small creases on either side of my mouth. And a few more around my eyes because I tend to squinch up my eyes when I smile or laugh.

Some people call these wrinkles. Or fine lines.

But whatever they are, everyone knows they’re not supposed to be very nice.

So I scowled at the very sight of them.

But not my Savoury.

She smiled big.

Grinning at me from behind the mirror,  she wrapped her arms around me and said this:

Oh, Mom, when we were young, you used to say you wanted smile lines when you got older and so you were determined to practice smiling so that’s what you would end up with.  And now you’ve got them – just like you’d always wanted!

Just like I’d always wanted . . . .

It’s funny that I’d forgotten about that wish of mine over the past few years. Life had become busy and I’d had no time to worry—about either happy or unhappy lines. No time to really think about wrinkles at all.

But it’s true: I used to dread  that I’d end up with frowny lines. Deep creases between my eyebrows and downturned lines around my mouth.  The natural consequence of a negative, unhappy attitude. Ugliness.

So I’d practiced smiling.

And now the results were in. And it would seem that there’d been a lot of smiling going on to get those kinds of lines . . . and so many of them.

I looked into the mirror and my eyes filled with tears.

Right there with with my now-grown-up-little-girl watching me.

A strange mix of happy and sad. Young and old. Past and future. Lined and unlined. All mingled together as we sat side-by-side on the edge of the bathtub.

Realizing I got what I’d always wanted. 

Aging Grace
And how about you? Are you practicing now for those lines that will come later?

Maybe you’re young and your skin is still smooth and fresh. Or you’re already a ways down that road. Maybe you don’t want to think about wrinkles at all. Ever.

But they do come.

No matter what the world tells you, or how our culture seeks to defy it.

They show up no matter what creams and lotions you try or how you attempt to avoid it.

And can I just tell you something? The honest truth?

They’re not really as bad as they make it seem.

Besides, if that’s the price you pay for smiling? For laughing and crying with the people you love?

Then I’d say they’re worth it—more than worth it.

So smile away, my friend! Because, after all, isn’t that what we really want? 

Aging grace. 

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Author informationLisaOwner at Club 31 Women

Lisa is the happily-ever-after wife of Matthew Jacobson and together they enjoy raising and home-educating their 8 children in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She's also rather fond of dark chocolate, French press coffee, and deep friendships (though not necessarily in that order). She encourages women to embrace the rich life of loving relationships and the high calling of being a wife and mother. Lisa is the author of 100 Ways to Love Your Husband and her husband is the author of 100 Ways to Love Your Wife. They are also the authors of several children's books, including a winner of the C.S. Lewis Silver Medal for Children's Literature.

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The post Aging Grace: The Day My Smile Lines Made Me Cry appeared first on Club 31 Women.