"Mirror mirror on the wall am I my Mother after all?" Crap. "How could this happen?" I sobbed. Except there I was in the bathroom holding one of the jars of face cream she gave me. I stared at it resistantly yet her words rang in my ears,
"Gail, this is very expensive and for your neck. Neck cream is important. It's from the "Sisley" counter at Neimans."
"Huh? Neck cream, there's special stuff just for the neck?" I'm thinking she's been tricked once again by one of her cosmetic gurus.
"Yes, you shouldn't ignore your neck," she insisted. I must admit her neck was lookin' pretty good. I took a quick peek at mine and almost screamed. Why didn't I have her neck? Could it be her magic cream produced results or was I getting Dad's turkey jowels? It was hard but I held back tears.
"Oh and here's some very expensive Sisley body cream for dry areas." Dry areas? Mom likes expensive, she thinks it means better. Admitedly, at 92 she's either a freak of nature or the damn products work. Curses!
I have bags of masks, lotions and potions she's given me over the years. I've never used them , rejecting the notion that they do anything, no less turn back the clock. Her fancy facial masks took too much time and looked really creepy. She however, held fast , regardless of my laughing at her face caked with some bank breaking formula. I can still conjure up the smell of Estee Lauder wafting from her bathroom when I was growing up. I would gag and run outside. I swore I'd never waste all that time on beauty.
Uh oh, it seems time has caught up with me. One day I have no wrinkles, a dewey complexion, and a jaw line and then poof...gone. What happened? Where was the "girl" in the mirror? I found myself asking the BIG question - could neck cream really help? Do those little jars Mom gave me hold the answer? I had to find out or drag all the mirrors out to the garbage. I slathered the slimey lotion on my neck and plastered my face with some creamy white stuff that smelled like weeds. I went to bed pretty slippery. I'm Mom.
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2 comments:
Oh you mere mortal who worries about physical beauty and what to wear. Yesterday I read all 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching for something I was working on and learned that all these superficial issues are unimportant. If anything they demean our true inner self. Peace and love are what's important as they are what brings softness and inner calm.
Well, that's all I got. I have to do my 50 sit-ups, 25 pushups and 35 deep knee bends before putting oil on my wrinkles and going to bed.
Gail I agree with Anonymous in many ways... We all get old, we all get dry skin, we are made to wrinkle and someday someone will come up with a facial iron of some sort.
I've always had very sensitive skin, well I say that because my mother used to FORCE the creams, the lip stick, the powder to put color on my face LEAVE MY FACE ALONE!... My sister has been putting on make up for ages and her skin is not so great, a pimple? lets put some magic $99.00 per bottle crap that doctors and the media say it's GREAT!.. Me? I learned from a woman who never wore make up, she never put anything but natural stuff on her face and neck...Years ago I started putting on some fancy creams to clean and moisture my face and neck and 3 days later black heads and pimples came popping so I quit the fake crap. I will be 52 in few months and everyone asks me what to I do to not have wrinkles on my face or neck and all I say is "when I take my shower in the morning I wash my face with hot hot HOT water, scrub it well with my hands and that's it, hot water opens your pours and lets the moisture in, regarding my neck well sing I guess, it stretches something.
My favorite movie "Connie and Carla" there is a great line, Connie asks this girl if she has Botox, the girl says yes and Connie said "Honey, if your man tells you that your face looks like a map, tell him to hit the road" now lets just say that your Mom has great genes, it's not the cream baby and it's not Neiman's either.
And next time you get upset because you have a wrinkle, then smile because it only means you've smiled a lot in your life time so far. Be proud and wash your face and neck with HOT WATER AND A CLEAR SOAP and quit looking at little things that life brings.
With Love
Dr Ruth
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