Getting Older

Well I know I am still young, but aging is something we must all do. I was at work today and I looked at my hands and I realized how old they look. How do other people deal with aging? The wrinkles in my face are getting deeper and deeper and I am starting to sag and get stretch marks. I feel like so much of my youth has been wasted and unappreciated. Did my mom and grandmother look in the mirror one day and not recognize the face staring back? Our mind is an amazing thing. It is amazing how in my mind I look like I did when I was 20, yet I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I realize that is really what I look like, a pudgy nearing thirty wife. I am no longer the bouncy, cheerful, flirty young woman that I was once. Instead i am turing into my mom. It is hard to deal with sometimes. I just want to close my eyes and be younger and carefree again. I remember how big everything looked as a child and how beautiful everything seemed. I guess the longer you look at things, the more you take their beauty for granted. I try to see the world through my (step)child's eyes and sometimes that is just wonderful. Like laying on a blanket in the park staring up at the clouds and naming the things that they are shaped like, making funny faces and telling silly stories. I think we should spend more time as adults doing things like that instead of say cleaning house or worrying about bills. So many parents today don't take the time to enjoy the simple things in life like clouds and rain, When is the last time you took your shoes off and rolled up your pants and splashed in mud puddles in the rain? When is the last time you truly laughed until your face hurt and you cried? I can tell you it has been a long time for me. Hopefully I can take my own advice and start appreciating the small things and know that the laundry will be there when I am done.