My evening had been spent alone, completely alone, which is a rarity for me, and sometimes a welcomed change. Even the dogs were outside for the night, so it was just my cat on my lap, mindless TV, my heated blanket, and me. Peace...until...
At about 10:30 PM I decided I could no longer keep my dreary eyes open. I went into the bathroom, looked into the mirror, which is something I rarely make a habit of (those of you who know me well have often seen me with frazzled hair and toothpaste on my shirt in the mornings...I never notice!), and that is when tragedy struck. I saw it. Then I saw them. My heart began to race...or it stopped, I’m not sure which. It was the type of panic that one has when you think you’ve just misplaced your child...and then you find them hiding in the clothing rack at the store. The only difference is that you always find your child and the panic stops. So, imagine...staring into the mirror...and staring back at your is an entire patch of WHITE hair, glowing, sparkling, shining, and blissfully unaware that it is causing tremendous anxiety and forcing you to face an entire future of coloring your hair every 6-8 weeks. Now, I realize that I said “patch” of white hair, and it was a patch, maybe only 4-5 hairs, but it stuck out against the brown like a dazzling diamond sitting atop pea gravel. And where there are 4-5, there will soon be thousands....they reproduce rapidly like rodents.
Remember how I was enjoying being alone? Well, that stopped when I had nobody in the house to reassure me that I wasn’t going to wake up in a nursing home. Falling asleep was difficult, I thought I may not wake up. I’m officially old. How can this be? I don’t feel old, prior to tonight I didn’t think I looked old, and I definitely don’t act old. Gone are the days of being carded for alcohol, and gone are the days of people being amazed at my actual age. Time to give up running, the gym, and late nights at the bar...time to take up knitting, Bingo, and puzzles. My bones will soon begin to predict storms and I’m sure that within the week I’ll be waking up a few times a night to pee.
For now, I’m still alive. I woke up this morning like any other morning, and I didn’t wake up throughout the night to use the bathroom. I’m going to continue with my hobbies and put off knitting as long as possible. I’m still going to stay out late sometimes and drink too much sometimes. I’m still not going to look in the mirror often enough. I’m still going to act like a 20 something and I’m still going to lie about my age...more out of necessity now. But I am also going to schedule a hair appointment at the start of business on Monday morning!
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