Prevention

If you look in my medicine cabinet, you will find the following: Epicuren anti-oxidant serum, Epicuren moisturizing/age reversal lotion, Fructis eye wrinkle prevention, Prevage anti-aging serum.

OK, so there may be a slight obsession with aging. Yes, from a physical perspective I would rather not look like a leather handbag when I get older. My college friends used to tease me that I would turn out like Magda from Something About Mary. That is enough to scare a girl into spending half her salary on anti-aging serums.

Each time I visit my parents at home, I notice a new line on their faces. Did that line come from their frequent facial gestures? A chronic angst? Habit? Or by enduring 28 years with me?

Whatever the cause, I wanted to take my hand and smooth them away. I wished my fingertips were laced with a miracle potion that could transform them back into the vision I had of them when I was 2. Their skin looked dewy and luminous, still waiting to battle life's stresses.

My mother's skin always smelled fresh and her hands always silky. Now they are more weathered and dry. Her face still beautiful, but slowly being sapped from age.

But my obsession with getting old isn't really just about getting wrinkles. Being elderly scares me.

I do not want my parents to need my help with life's basic functions. Something about this seems demoralizing and humiliating. Parents are fixtures of strength.

In reality, I have only one necessity in life and that is my parents. Not having them is incomprehensible. Evidently, I am not one of those people that can approach aging with keen wisdom and calm reassurance. I panic.

So, when I realized it was my dog's 8th birthday coming up instead of celebrating it with doggy ice cream and treats, I chose to ignore it.

It seems that a dog is a puppy and then the next blinking moment, he is rocketed to old age. This is not fair. Not fair to him and not fair to me.

But I had to make a choice. I could look at him and analyze his graying hair or sagging stomach or continue to see him from puppy eyes.

I guess the innocence associated with children and puppies is the best way to approach life. You appreciate your parents, your elders, your dogs regardless of age. You aren't reminded that with each passing day we get older.

So although my bevy of anti-aging lotions may not help me reverse time, I think I'm becoming OK with time passing. And for now, I think I may just bring home some snausages home for my buddy's 8th birthday.