“You need to stay out of the sun tomorrow”I pulled on the frayed edges of my cut-offs, twirled my cigarette in the ashtray….
“Why?”
“Your face”
“You’re getting wrinkles”
“Hmmmm”
“Is it supposed to rain tomorrow?”
“No, its supposed to be beautiful”
“Then so am I”
Vanity and arrogance dribbled from the corner of his lips like tobacco spittle on an old lady. Didn’t your Mama ever teach you if you can’t say anything nice, not to say anything at all? Hey big boy…..whatcha gotta say?
Silence.
He can’t say anything nice, so he just sits there. Stewing. Trying to dream up something else that will crawl under my very last nerve and get to me. He hates when he can’t.
I laugh.
These wrinkles aren’t from the sun, you silly fool. They’re from living. From failing. From falling. From flailing on the living room floor and living through “that” night. From laying down in the middle of the road in front of a car driven by a 16 year old maniac and bellowing “over my dead body”. From the Christmas Eve “Ma, I think she’s pregnant” revelations and the "oh, thank God she's nots". From kissing dirt and kicking it into gravesites 25-35 years too soon. From wars and ghettos and moments we weren’t poor, but broke as hell. From laughing hard and late in life. From loving and taking chances. From running, climbing, crawling to get here.
The sunshine just watercolors the lines on my face. Makes them glow in the dark. I’m proud of them. I've lived through them.
I believe in peace and love…
Take that, and put it,
Where the sun doesn’t shine!
30 comments:
Anal wrinkles from too much butt puckering are the worst kind...
A little sunshine there might do this peewee human some good...
I think...
Where's your banner, missy?
My girl! I remember when Margot Hemingway was asked about her wrinkles and she said: I earned those wrinkles! I don't want surgery. Each one represents my life.
I admit I just love the sun...
"Then so am I." Fantastic! I am remembering that one.
Adored this post!
scott....It's almost banner time!
enemy....And boy do we earn them! I'm with you there, I love it, it heals.....
justrun...."And so are you!"
Girl, you take my breath away every time I visit you.
As a child growing up, I remember thinking to myself (never would I have said it out loud) that when I got old I wanted laugh wrinkles, not frown wrinkles like my mom.
Here's a clink from my ice cold tea to your favorite libation- to those lines that define us!
Slainte!
Rachelle
Amen- you revel in those wrinkles! Getting old is a blessing- not a curse.
This new wave of "age-defying" beauty products is just evidence of the fact that people want to cheat death or that they are scared of it!
Shine.
sweet rachelle.....baby, I have lots of "Don't squinch, you'll get wrinkles" lines, but the laugh lines I cherish, wouldn't trade them for anything! And if I'm really, really lucky....I'll get the chance to add to the collection!
Peace and cheers, girl!
lizard princess....you know, I never understood that "birthday crisis" thing, people freaking out over their age at 30, 40, 50......Are you kidding me? Celebrate baby! We should all be so lucky to have those candles on our cake!
not only to have them, but to be able to blow them all out without spitting your teeth out.....
lol
wonderful story singleton..i'll see yer wrinkles and raise ya three more..
The more life I live, the more I am happier to be me...wrinkles, age, forgetfulness and all.
Always look forward, dance in the rain and hold your head up high! Sing ON!
karoline....Oh, I am laughing out loud, I forgot all about the teeth thing! That, "and don't trip, you might break your hip!"!
bardouble...you got it right! And by the way, what are we gonna name that planet? :)
Lol...wrinkles are kinda like our survival scars marking the years we have laughed, squinted & kissed.
Poor, silly, young man... he has yet to learn that scrowling, even in the dark, creates more wrinkles than laughing in the sun!
ILYSVFMSSS.
what a great read!
love the song too...
once sat across from four women at lunch. three with plastic surgery beauty
and my soul said to itself
"see who you wanna be when you grow up
the one who wears her wrinkles well; laughs the loudest; smiles the most
the one who knows the value of who she is; as is."
-and i've always loved this line from an old friend...
"we (women) were not put on earth for your viewing pleasure"
"here's to soakin' up the sun; and shining bright from the inside!"
I agree. I am damned proud of my wrinkles, my greying hair, and my ever increasing ability to make a complete ass of myself over something I think is right. By God, I've earned it.
outstanding! here's to living outlandishly
Tell um girl!!! Them wrinkles are hard to come by....and well deserved from livin LIFE !!!!! :-)
Oh how we earn them. Life doles them out only to the lucky ones.
xo
Having just spent more than four hours in the sun, I say, damn the wrinkles. I will not give up the sun for some impostrous youth. You go, s.
HA! Great post, brilliant ending.
slb...OMGILYAMYSVVFM2! LOL, even the moments we have "we have laughed, squinted & kissed" are worth every line sister!
she....Aren't our souls the greatest when they're talking to our selves? You are on it girl!
justme....Oh yeah, that forever increasing ability to....do whatever we like! That rocks!
savannah...perfect word: "outlandishly" and so it shall be! Clink!
vicci....well collecting them was quite a challange, but ahhhhh, basking in them, that's the glory!
blue....then we're all damn lucky!
katherine....You rock girl! I'm not giving up anything for youth, in fact I'm almost positive I have a few things up on 'em by now! LOL!
justacoolcat.... :) ta-dah!
It's noon... I've gotta work at two. trying to re-pierce my belly before then, you know while I'm still closer to twenty than I am to sixty. LOL... ILY
Norah Jones saw her dad Rabbi Shankar play in Dublin a long long time ago early 70's I think.
Wrinkle wrinkle little star how I wonder at the scars from drugs and bars and goin' too far for to long, how long, how long, Singleton........
Love you, yours truely Paddy
slb....you'll always be closer to twenty darling! Think back! Tink to nana, girl! ILYSVVFM!
paddy....well I hope somebody wonders at them!
peace~love from the little prune face!
tai....like palm reading, it's all written there....
peace, girl!
I love this! You tell em!
I love my wrinkles! I noticed I have one wrinkle where I slightly have a dimple when I smile on my left side! I thought, 'wow! I didn't know dimples could have wrinkles,' it just means I have smiled alot. I wouldn't plump that up for nothin!
Every wrinkly has a story.. and some! live and love life.
angela marie....Oh I forgot about that! People plumping them up! Whatever will they think of next! Face erasers?
You wear those dimples well, sweetie! They're beautiful! Peace~love
What a great prose poem. You don't waste a single word. And the wrinkles mean nothing but how you were in life. If the sun dries you up a bit or burns the smile around your eyes, what of it? Some people's faces look like they never saw sun, or smiled once, and their wrinkles are a lot more dramatic and tragic.
Peace and good writing to you
E
Love the tune!
eric...
I hope the sun" burns the smile around my eyes"! Etches it forever there....
peace friend
Me too, my friend. I hope I get better with each fold, crease and wrinkle. I hope I fly up higher after each down time and want the sun to tattoo love to my face.
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