Loose Women

     Middle aged women are loose.  We can't help it.  That is what happens when your muscles shrink and your skin succumbs to gravity.  Your body becomes lazy.  Your breasts head south to rest on your belly, your belly scoots down to rest on your lap, and your backside lowers to counterbalance the front side.  Even your face, which has nothing to rest on, can't escape the cascading effect.  The only solution is to fill the loose areas with fat, and with decreased muscle mass this is easy to do.  My body is into easy.  So is my brain.
     As a young mom I would hop out of my car and, without thinking, gather up my children, diaper bag, an assortment of stuffed animals, a handful of toy cars and my groceries.  Now I have to think before I can even get myself out of the car, not to mention the effort of remembering my purse, water bottle and mail.  My biggest fear is not that I'll get Alzheimer's, but that no one will be able to tell.
     So, as long as everything else on my body is declining, there is one more thing that needs to lower--my expectations.  When I was young I worried that my knees were too knobby, now I'm just happy they bend in the right direction.  As a girl I didn't like my freckles, now I think how small they look compared to my age spots.  Yes my hair is gray, but I have lots of hair and with that and $10 it can be whatever color I choose.  I am middle aged, happy and healthy and I choose to be comfortable in my own skin.  I just wish there wasn't  so much of it.