Monday, August 2, 2010

Comfort over Fashion

I met the sweetest couple in Walmart the other day, where I was doing my weekly grocery shopping. We were standing at the deli. They were getting their order, and I was waiting for my turn. The man was doing the ordering. His wife was just standing there, waiting patiently, looking around. We made eye contact a half a dozen times and just smiled at each other. After a while she came over and paid me a wonderful compliment!

She said every time she looked at me she couldn't help notice how pretty my skin was. I thanked her and said I would be fifty-five this year. She informed me she was eighty-nine. And then went on to say she wished her skin looked as nice, and mentioned she wasn't wearing any makeup. For an 89 year old woman she looked great, and I told her so. She mentioned she'd recently had cancer surgery on her face, and seemed to be very self conscious over it. I looked closer at her, and finally noticed the three little bandages on her cheek.

I hadn't even noticed them before, they were so close to the color of her skin. She seemed so relieved when I told her that. It was then I noticed how well dressed she was, her tasteful jewelry, and perfect hair. Her husband appeared just as well groomed. It was clear they'd had a good, prosperous life together.

Before she left she told me her husband was ninety-six, and that he still drove. I was amazed at how young they appeared, how they moved without canes or walkers. How they took care of their appearance. Not that the elderly turn into slobs, or anything. But some do tend to fall into the comfortable routine of wearing moo moos, shorts and socks. You know it's true. Nothing wrong with that either. I'll be one of them because comfort, over fashion, is everything to me:)

1 comment:

Kathleen said...

What a nice couple! I'm always looking for role models on how to age well.