Cracks In My Skin
September 16, 2020
The other day my son asked me why I take pictures in portrait mode.
“Because I’m old,” I replied.
It reminded me of a FUNNY conversation we had 13 years ago.
It was so hilarious I wrote a magazine column about it a few years later. It still rings true today!
Here’s an excerpt:
“Do I have something in my eye?” I asked my then 5-year-old son, as I squinted and blinked profusely during breakfast one morning.
“Hmm,” he mumbled as he studiously examined my pupil. “Nope!” he exclaimed, “but you do have cracks in your skin,” he announced with complete innocence and pride in discovering something he seemed to think I hadn’t noticed yet.
“Actually, those are wrinkles,” I gently explained.
“Oh, because you’re 40?” he asked.
I sighed, thinking, leave it to my child to cut to the chase.
“Oh no,” I jokingly corrected him. “I’m 25!”
He didn’t quite get the humor in my response. He crinkled his face in confusion and asked, “But I thought you were 40?”
I fessed up. “Yes, sweetie, I’m 40. But you can tell everyone I’m 25, okay?” I replied with my tongue firmly planted in cheek. He laughed, but I wasn’t completely convinced he got the joke.
Cracks in my skin …
A few years before, I would’ve panicked at the thought of my skin betraying my youthful energy. I recalled the conversation with my son hours later that day, staring into my magnifying mirror.
I studied those “cracks” in my skin, the crow’s feet around my eyes, the fine lines on my forehead. Each one of them told a story. Some were marks of struggle. Some represented stress. Some were reminders of sleepless nights. Others connected me to heartache, tears and loss. But most, I thought, were genuine reminders of a mid-life filled with years of smiles, laughter and the sincere belief that the best is yet to come.
I had already come to realize that with wrinkles comes wisdom, the wisdom to recognize what a defining moment it was when I actually learned to embrace my age. Age is just a number.
To truly embrace it is to know that with every year and every “crack,” we gain priceless experience.
#portraitmode #cracks #age #wisdom #fkids #tellingitlikeitis #humor
