Twenty-two days before my 39th birthday I find it. Laying under five locks exactly where the hair follicle meets the scalp. I tug many times and move close to the mirror, to make sure it is real. My first grey hair.
I wonder about this moment for years, watching peers' heads show shades of white. A streak here, a streak there. During challenging times, I swear I felt them coming. I would check to see if a bright silver patch had formed during stressful periods.
One day, laying on my couch, surfing Netflix, I decided to watch The Age of Adeline. The sci-fi flick revolves around Adeline Bowman, a white female protagonist who is struck by lightning on an auspicious day outside of San Francisco. From that moment, she becomes forever young. Her body never ages. Hmmmm maybe I was struck by lightning a long time ago, and I just don't remember it. Not!!!
But the truth is, I do look young. I get comments like, "How old are you? 20?" I don't mind it very much. I think about how great I will look when I'm 70. Besides, beautiful skin and healthy genes are superpowers!
So when my hands casually moved through my locks, I was surprised and not surprised it was there. The thirties! Work, work, work! Responsibility! Separations! Deaths! And if you're a dancer, be knowledgeable of at least 90% of the humanities skills that exist on this planet! This decade is filled with "growing up" pains for sure. Luckily for me, because myself, children and Kingman grow wiser and stronger, and I continue to grow in living a life of love, at the end of the day this makes the perseverance worth it. So now, four days before my #39th earth day I write with physical proof on top of my head that my body is not immortal. Such a beautiful sign of age.
I wonder about this moment for years, watching peers' heads show shades of white. A streak here, a streak there. During challenging times, I swear I felt them coming. I would check to see if a bright silver patch had formed during stressful periods.
One day, laying on my couch, surfing Netflix, I decided to watch The Age of Adeline. The sci-fi flick revolves around Adeline Bowman, a white female protagonist who is struck by lightning on an auspicious day outside of San Francisco. From that moment, she becomes forever young. Her body never ages. Hmmmm maybe I was struck by lightning a long time ago, and I just don't remember it. Not!!!
But the truth is, I do look young. I get comments like, "How old are you? 20?" I don't mind it very much. I think about how great I will look when I'm 70. Besides, beautiful skin and healthy genes are superpowers!
So when my hands casually moved through my locks, I was surprised and not surprised it was there. The thirties! Work, work, work! Responsibility! Separations! Deaths! And if you're a dancer, be knowledgeable of at least 90% of the humanities skills that exist on this planet! This decade is filled with "growing up" pains for sure. Luckily for me, because myself, children and Kingman grow wiser and stronger, and I continue to grow in living a life of love, at the end of the day this makes the perseverance worth it. So now, four days before my #39th earth day I write with physical proof on top of my head that my body is not immortal. Such a beautiful sign of age.
*interested in reading more about dance youthful bodies? take a peek at Is Dancing the Kale of Exercise by Marilyn Friedman.
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