Damn! She looks good(-ish) for 55.

I just had my birthday; I am 53. To figure this out, I had to go back to my birth year and count it because I wasn't 100% sure how old I was. Truth is, I have been lying about my age for about 15 years. It's true; every 5 years or so I ADD 5 years to my age. When I turned 40 I began telling people I was 45. When I hit 45, I was 50, and on that Big 5 -0 birthday, I turned 55 to the outside world. I never understood the theory of lying down about your age especially as you get to be, what is known as "a woman of a certain age. " At no time in my life do I want someone to look at me after I tell them my age and think, " Damn! She has had a tough life! " What I want them to think is, "Damn! She looks fabulous for (insert age here)."

Sometimes I come close to getting caught. As a high school English teacher, I more and more often I am teaching the children of people I went to high school with. A few years ago, I had a class ask me how old I was. True to form, I told them I was about 4 years older than I actually was at the time. A young student in the back looked puzzled. After a few minutes, and some whispering to her friends around her, she raised her hand. "Didn't you graduate with my mom?" " Why yes,I did." "My mom's not 44." "Mmmmmm, are you sure? Maybe she has been telling you she is younger than she is." (I may have received a phone call from my friend on that one. No worries, she started lying up about her age too after I explained it.)

This whole "lying up" is especially important for women who, try as we might, just cannot get the hang of that whole skin care routine. Oh, I have all the essentials: cleanser, moisturizer, serums, astringents, tonics, potions, masks, all with SPF and all exuberantly proclaiming that they can - if used religiously and correctly - shear years from the face time has ravaged. I am quite confident that there are indeed rejuvenating properties to some extent in all of these things, however, when they sit in my medicine cabinet staring at me from behind the toothpaste, their anti-aging effects tend not to be so noticeable.

I have decided that my fifties are going to be the best years of my life. I wouldn't go back to my twenties for anything. Trying to figure out who I am, what I want to do, who I want to do it with, and who I need to impress.. in my twenties it was everyone! My thirties and forties were all about my kids. I wouldn't change a thing about those years. At the risk of sounding like every other mother on the planet, I have the most amazing kids anywhere. Smart, funny, kind, did I mention smart? Damn! However, my fifties are going to be for me. I have had a FABULOUS life! I have a career, I have a family, I have friends and a home and a car and my health, but I have worked hard for it - since I was fifteen years old waiting tables at the Truck Stop (and you, my local Brazil-bilies, you know that truck stop) Every wrinkle, every line, every age spot, every creak and groan are a testament to the wonderful life I have led.

The next seven years are going to be filled with girls' trips, pool days, manicures, massages, and books. I can't remember the last time I just sat down and read a book that didn't have anything to do with school. These are the things that I am looking forward to for the next seven years - actually, I may have to re-think the "lying up" philosophy - If I turn "sixty" in two years, I have a lot of trips to take soon...