A Moment in Time: October 15th, 2012. “The Wrinkles that We’re Choosing”
As a child I remember how one of the things that used to impress me most about older people was the wrinkles on their skin. I was always fascinated by the fact that those marks, at least to me, weren’t marks created by time but marks created by the quality of life a person had offered to him or herself.
I never forget how I used to touch inquisitively my grandmother’s cheeks trying to put at rest the questions that my immature mind asked incessantly. “Why is your face so different than mine?” My grandma used to laugh wisely at my raw inquiries and would answer me without perturbation: “You’re just beginning Life, but I’m already finishing it. What you see through my wrinkles is my exhaustion.”
These last few years, those past memories have come back. I’m sure it’s because I’ve kept growing up and my own wrinkles have started to appear. There was a first stage when I hated “my” lines and did all things possible to…stop them! Yeah, I know! As if this was a true possibility, and please excuse the redundancy! Wait, now that I’m writing about it, no, I didn’t do “everything” because it came a moment when I looked at myself in the mirror and said: “Roxy, my dear Roxy, why are you trying to stay frozen in time?” “Why would you want for people not to see the amazing experienced life that starts to show through your beautiful ‘seasoned’ physical self?”
You see, my belief is that there are two different types of wrinkles: the happy and the sad ones. If you detail well the elder people that are part of your world, you’ll find faces that can easily show all their hardship. Others can only reflect a state of peace and harmony —being these last ones the fewer, I must admit. Yes, what’s inside our minds and hearts ends up reflecting on our external beings and this is when the Hermetic principle transmitted to us from Ancient Egypt that says: “As within so without”, starts making sense as a natural law.
Once I learned to start aging gracefully, I kept looking at that mirror that had once been so cruel upon my ego. Now all I can feel is the sweetest love for every tiny wrinkle that I see. How can I love what I see? Because every line, mark, or scar on my body —small or large— reminds me of my courage, perseverance, and transformation. They’re little hints showing me I must continue to smile, laugh and cry, so I can keep creating these happy wrinkles that slowly “invade” my physical being throughout time. To be honest, when I look at them, I don’t think any more I should do something to hide them. On the contrary, I honor them for all the wonders I’ve lived and I thank them for all the wonders they’ll surely witness as I slowly finish this amazing adventurous “ride” called Life.
So now that I have shared with you my wrinkled secrets, what type of “lines” are you choosing to create in you? Happy or sad ones?
Until next time and don’t forget to be love!
