Many moons ago, the Queen made a premature appearance into the world. She colicked (it’s totally a word, the Queen just passed a law saying so) through infancy, bounced through toddlerhood, rebelled through the rest and it’s all still a bit of a blur.
Until one day, she found herself smack dab in the middle of this thing called Adulthood. No matter how hard she fought (and is still fighting), the aging process is winning. And the Queen even tried to pass a law banning aging but aging didn’t listen. The schmuck.
The Queen has been trying really hard to accept the fact that there is nothing that can be done. And hey, she does realize that it’s better than the alternative. The Queen doesn’t like the idea of worms crawling around in her eye sockets, that makes her dry heave.
So, she sighs and realizes she has no other choice but to roll with the punches that are called Middle Age and Aging insist on dishing out. Mind you, she’s not a completely willing participant but what other option is there?
While the Queen sits in front of the mirror, reader glasses perched on the tip of her nose so that she can see better, she inspects the soft lines forming around her eyes as she tries to tweeze her brows…which doesn’t work so well when wearing readers and works even worse without. It’s a no win, trust the Queen on this. She sighs with great upset. But then, she thinks about what those lines represent. They are from years of smiling (and squinting). Because the Queen, despite many downs in her life, has had way more ups. These past 45 years have been good. She’s made babies. Three of them, to be exact. And she’s raised 2 step babies. Babies that are growing so quickly, they can’t even be considered babies anymore. She found a man that she loves (and still crushes on) to spend the rest of her life with, if she’s lucky.
The lines around her mouth have deepened noticeably. Some call them ‘smile lines’ and some call them ‘frown lines’. The Queen considers them to be a life of laughter lines. She likes to laugh. A lot. She finds things funny and isn’t ashamed to chuckle or snort about them. The King makes her laugh. Her kids make her snort. Her friends make her crack up. Despite the fact that she’s middle aged, she is lucky to have these lines of laughter and can even forgive the fact that they are there. Not fully forgive but she’s working on that.
The Queen’s body is changing in places she never knew could change. But those changes are part of who she is now. Her, um, landscape doesn’t look like it once did. Things are rapidly moving South. Pretty soon, she’ll have to join them in Florida. But, for some strange and unexplained reason, she is more comfortable in this sagging body. No, she doesn’t like the sagging part. But, she is more confident than ever before. She somehow has found a way to fit into her skin, even though it’s trying to move away from her.
Reader glasses of various strengths are scattered around the Kingdom. Her eyes aren’t what they once were. Her vision used to be perfect and the transition to not-so-perfect wasn’t an easy one to deal with. The Queen found really cute glasses and Five Below so she is able to affordably hoard them. The Queen actually doesn’t mind wearing them, either. She thinks she looks cute. Maybe she’s wrong but don’t tell her, okay. We wouldn’t want to disillusion her.
When the Queen was younger, making friends didn’t come easy. She was a shy Princess who always felt like an outcast and was a bit socially awkward. She had quite a few friends from her youth, some of them she is still close with. But, to her surprise and joy, the Queen has easily made new friends over the last few years. Good friends. Wonderful friends. Best friends. Friends whom cause her to get more soft lines around her eyes and deeper lines around her mouth. The Queen wonders how she got so lucky to have all these amazing people that seem to really like her as much as she likes them.
Middle Age, however, will always be a little scary to the Queen. Only because of the phase that comes next. Golden Years. Old Age. Whatever the term used, it still means terrifying to her. But, it’s inevitable. And she only hopes that she will find things about that stage of life that she can appreciate in the same way she has with this Middle Age gig.
Even though she would scream “Off with their head” if someone called her ‘dear’ or ‘sweetie’ or ‘ma’am’…like a waitress or a store clerk have habits of doing to those patrons older than them (HATE THAT)…
The Queen has decided that Middle Age is the new Twenty Something…and is currently working on putting that law into effect…
It really doesn’t matter in this Kingdom because the Queen is a basically happy woman.
And she sighs contentedly (without making faces because she doesn’t want to add any more depth to those soft lines)
However, the Queen would like to ban chiskars. Because…chiskars. Who needs those?
Off with their heads.
Given that I am ahead of you in the race to the grave, I can understand all of your concerns and the things that are and have been happening to you. After all, even though aging is gentler to men than it is to women – at least in the Appearance Department – there are things about aging that many, if not most, men severely object to. I want you to create a Law forbidding Prostates from enlarging, because that shit is just annoying – although … just like going blind increases other senses, like hearing, enlarging prostates do have a tendency to create stronger tongues. heh.
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