the old photograph

when time's passage slaps you in the face

A family friend in my dad’s peer group recently gave me an old photograph that he’d found while cleaning out his home in preparation for a move.

The picture had been taken at a barbecue gathering in my late high school years, and in it I’m standing with two other young women with whom I’ve since lost touch.

The photograph, which I’d never before seen, took my breath away. I’m not going to downplay it: I looked really good.

He gave it to me while gathered with about 10 other adults, who all know me as the midlife woman I am today. I felt an obvious, collective pause as we all took in the image.

No one said it, but the difference in my likeness was dramatic.

In that photo was a gorgeous young woman—bright skin, shiny hair, sparkly eyes, slim figure. And here, in real time, was me, an average mom, claiming this youthful beauty as mine. I felt, truthfully, a bolt of shame by the disparity. I tucked that photo away, and laughed it off.

Aging is a slow creep for most of us. And lately, my mind’s …