Wrinkles and Crinkles and Laugh Lines, Oh My!

last night, I had the television on in the background while I did some work and ended up watching a few minutes of an informercial for one of those “facelift in a jar” kind of products. The “doctor” who was leading the commercial threw around a lot of the usual skin care connected adjectives like: smooth, young, tight and fresh, but there was one thing he said that really confused me. At one point, Dr.Facelift said,

“Skin that has repeated the same action over and over, like smiling, causes muscles to contract and create wrinkles.”

I’m confused, because I thought smiling was a GOOD thing. Why would I want to hide evidence of being happy? Our faces tell our stories and I refuse to be ashamed of that. I have experienced MANY, MANY things up to this point and each of my experiences have affected how I think and how I feel, why shouldn’t they affect how I look as well? And why should that be a bad thing?

Every line in my face reflects that I’ve lived, loved, lost and learned and I’m okay with that.

I miss a lot of things about my mother who lost her battle with Cancer when she was only 56 years old. One of the things I miss is the way she looked when she smiled. When she smiled, her whole face smiled and as strange as this may sound, I remember the lines around her eyes and how warmly and lovingly they seemed to frame them. Is it weird that I WANT my laugh lines? Is it bizarre that I’m proud of every crease and crinkle I earn as I live each day?

Thanks, but no thanks, facelift in a jar, go peddle your ageism elsewhere, I’m just not interested.