I don’t think wrinkles suck. Two exceptions for that statement would be when the wrinkles are not supposed to be part of my outfit and on an official, original document. Otherwise, I am totally fine with wrinkles. I’m sure some of you are thinking that I should wait until I’m older before I go around declaring that I’m fine with wrinkles on my face. But I’m here to say for sure, 100%, that I won’t ever change my mind about wrinkles on my face.

When I was in my late twenties, living in Chicago, I had a boss who taught me a lot about life. Gale Candiano was very well respected in the advertising community and she was such a hard worker. Interestingly enough, when it came to getting to work on time, she would tell us not to kill ourselves because the work would always be there. She would see me running into work trying to get started on whatever was left from the night before and she’d say, “Slow down. Your work isn’t going anywhere and besides, no one else is going to do it for you. When you are able to get to it, the work is all yours.” Gale was always fair and upfront about what she was working on. Everyone always knew where they stood with her. When it was our birthdays, she would ask us if we called our moms to say thank you for giving birth to us. These are life skills - lessons. One of the most impressionable things that I learned from Gale is that she told us that she would never get plastic surgery on her face to get rid of wrinkles. After she announced that and saw that none of us were as confident about her stance on plastic surgery, she asked, “Why would I want to erase all the lines that I earned?” I was only twenty-something years old but I realized right then and there that Gale’s approach to life was much more than smoke and mirrors. Gale Candiano has always been the real deal.

As the years went by, I started to notice older people who should have wrinkles on their faces but didn’t. I actually started to feel sorry for them, not that they needed any pity from me at all, but I started to wonder if any of these older people ever had fun. How come they weren’t laughing? Do they ever feel emotions? Why haven’t they “earned” any lines from the great lives that they are living?

Ok, so right about now, the many friends and family of mine who love Botox are reading this and probably thinking that this post is no where near thoughtful pinching so I better clarify. What I am NOT saying is that those with wrinkle-free faces are living miserable lives and anyone who has had a face-lift is not “the real deal”. If I were to say that, practically everyone that I hang out with would, for sure, de-friend me ASAP. Everyone has the choice to look at things as road blocks or as opportunities. For some, wrinkles give people the opportunity to better themselves, to get the help they need to look and feel awesome. Botox or plastic surgery can help and support their needs. What I am saying is, for me, even though having wrinkles on my face and body is a dead give away that I am NOT twenty something, I am proud to age. Yes, I’m older but that means I’m so much wiser and better because I have experienced life. I can’t go back in time - even if I could erase every single wrinkle- instead I think: what lies ahead? Well, in my future, I see more freedom to live the best life that I can with all the opportunities that I have now that I am older. This excites me so much more than a smooth face.

Now when it comes to aging, I will continue to color my hair every 3-4 weeks to cover up the gray for as long as I can. However, earning lines on my face has been sort of like a personal challenge ever since my boss Gale told us her point of view about wrinkles. If I can come to the end of my life with laugh lines around my eyes and mouth because I’ve been so happy, then I win. I’ve been accused of being old school which I have gladly accepted and celebrate all the time. For me, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. In other words, if I really, 100%, follow thru with my plan NOT to get rid of my wrinkles via plastic surgery, then I better keep close those who are more apt to say, “Barb’s beautiful because her wrinkly face is proof that she laughs a lot.” #winning.

Pinches,

Barb