AGE IS JUST A NUMBER!!!

   Hello dear friends, so as we acclimate ourselves to a new year, our resolutions and possibly other big changes, I want to touch upon a topic close to my heart. AGING IN AMERICA!   Yessiree, that is something that permeates my life everyday.  Whether it be with the outer world, as an actor, with it's false notions that the older person, especially woman are not bankable stars or even worth considering to emulate in anyway shape or form, or because I moved into an apt. bldg. for 55+ tenants and I'm surrounded by older folks.  Or being aware of my own inner growth and the realization my time is measured here on this earth and there is a purpose to all that I do in the way of leaving something behind and it has nothing to do with age.  As you can see, there are two photos here.  That is Natalie Cole in case you don't recognize her on the left(my friend Mark Anthony posted her pic on FB last night) and me from a pic taken about 3 months ago to help my friend get his Media company off the ground, as one of the talent.  We are both 63 years old.  Yes, I'm not kidding you. And I haven't even had any work done, YET!  I can't speak for Ms. Cole  but she looks pretty damn good. It sure helps to lose all the excess weight one can glom on as we age.  So what's it gonna be?  Do we finally come to the realization that age is just a number and we do our older population an injustice when grouping people together just because of specific digits?!

My new friend and neighbor, RaeMarie and I, were having a good laugh the other day about somewhere we read "those of you who are over 62 and elderly"  or some ridiculous statement to that effect.  We both could have been so offended.   OMG, these folks who write that stuff haven't a clue.  Of course, they don't live in LA or NYC where it's peoples  livelihoods depending on looking young.  It's impossible to tell how old someone is in those big cities where to be younger is better.  So I responded with a comic I had seen. "Not to worry, you know dead is the new 80."  Laughter is the best medicine isn't it?  I love that my friend has a great sense of humor and doesn't take herself to seriously.  I hope to get to that place.  Or is it something that comes with age?  She is one year older than I and btw, looks really great!!

If all of us 60-something's could move to England where they do so many films and TV shows with women over 60, we might not feel so invisible.  And they treasure them too!! I can't get enough of shows like the PBS's Cranford or an English TV serious Rosemary & Thyme.  As another friend of mine said to me once, hanging around a cosmetic counter in a dept. store, "We are supposed to get old."  Absolutely, how so very true....telling us not to age is 1) akin to telling a fruit not to ripen on the tree or vine, 2) it's the very sneaky way these huge conglomerate cosmetic companies and other anti-aging quick-fix doctors want us to keep spending our money on things we really don't NEED, and 3)creating a society where there is shame and guilt in aging (so we are easily manipulated), which is as natural as death, another very taboo subject much maligned.  I'll get to that subject in another blog.

So as we slide into another year with our aspirations, dreams and hopes, I want to take this time to say, if you don't feel old then kudos to you.  But if you do, then change that ridiculous idea.  It's all in an attitude anyway.  My good friend Lola Stone, in her 90's, lives in Thailand and writes a beautiful blog about her life, and it's pretty amazing. http://bit.ly/1hiDdtD  I had the great pleasure of meeting a female pilot, Anna Pennington, going on 91 years old this month. I can't tell you what a joy, thrill and inspiration it has been to get to know her.  We should all be so lucky to live such an exciting life with boundless energy, as she has, being the 2nd woman to receive her pilots license in 1941 here in Wilmington.   I do want to mention that there is a website/FB Page/Documentary film, The Beauty of Aging,  https://www.facebook.com/TheBeautyofAging  focusing on some incredible people all over 80 and 90 years old.  The stories they have to share.  Priceless!  Have a great 2014, no matter how old or young you are!