Posted on: Tuesday, June 7, 2005
ABOUT WOMEN
What crisis is that? I'm still kicking
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By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Who says mid-life crises are just for men?
We're all familiar with the cliche about the middle-aged guy who goes out and gets a jazzy sports car, hair plugs, a refillable prescription for Viagra and a girlfriend young enough to be his daughter.
I don't condone that sort of sad, pathetic behavior, but I can certainly understand it. Women experience the same sense of approaching mortality and loss of sex appeal. What do you think is fueling the makeover industry, and have you seen Cher lately?
I suppose if I had enough disposable income, I'd go out an get a BMW roadster, too. Instead, I got a toe ring. Woo-hoo!
There comes a time in every woman's life, sooner for some than others, when you realize you are past the age of getting a second look at the beach or a nightclub. In fact, you're downright invisible. Invisible, I tell ya. (And aren't you a little old to be cruising that kind of nightclub in the first place?)
You can do your Pilates till you drop, chickie-poo, but no matter what Estee Lauder tells you, your skin will not recoup its youthful suppleness and glow.
These cold, hard facts are not easy to accept, and some of us go into middle age with more style and grace than others — and by middle age I mean our 50s and beyond, although that number certainly seems to age the older I get.
Still, old isn't dead. A few years ago when the boy bands were all the rage, I pretended I was bonding with my tweenage daughter by sharing her interest in pop music. In fact, I was lusting after the hunks of 98 Degrees.
OK, you can stop with the eye-rolling right now. Am I the only one who noticed the double standard that made it perfectly fine for MTV's Kurt Loder — who must be, what, 60? — and other old fogies to go ga-ga over Britney Spears and her sex-kitten clones while dissing the equally vacuous boy bands? (I used to watch a lot of "TRL" back then, but I'm better now.)
Like women of a certain age don't deserve a little eye candy now and then? That doesn't mean I would try to pick up some sweet young thang in a bar. Demi Moore notwithstanding, this option seems to be more available to men than women. Just what is it exactly that young women see in older men, that young men can't see in older women?
Financial security? Not in this day and age of independent women.
Maturity and wisdom? Don't think so. He's got hair plugs, darlin'.
A daddy? Maybe.
For the most part, I'm past the periodic bouts of grieving for my lost youth and have come to own my age and the privileges it brings, like early-bird dinner specials and naps.
At least my celebrity crushes are closer to my age, Jude Law and Olivier Martinez topping the list at the moment. Woo-hoo!
Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.
