What other people think!

What other People Think
by Terri Kirby Erickson

As I was standing in front of my closet this morning, trying to determine which summer top to wear that wouldn’t reveal the uppermost lead on my heart “event” monitor, it occurred to me that a statement I fervently believed was true when I said it recently, may not be as true as I thought it was at the time. I’d made a comment to a younger female friend who still very much cares about the opinions of others, saying that it is freeing to be a person over 50, as I no longer worry about what people think of me the way I once did.

In some respects, this is correct. I say pretty much whatever I want to now, as long as it’s respectful and kind. I have no problem sharing my opinion, even if it’s not exactly what the other person (or people!) wants to hear. Also, I don’t peer at my face in mirrors quite as frequently as I used to do, and what I’m looking for these days is not perfection, but some semblance of social acceptability. In other words, no stray eyelashes, makeup smudges, or bits of broccoli in my teeth, leftover from lunch.

And I do take care of myself- good skincare products and shampoos, clothes that compliment my ever-so-slightly expanding figure- and I try to eat healthy so I can feel better and live longer.

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Terri Kirby Erickson is the award-winning author of numerous articles

and three collections of poetry, including her latest book, In the Palms of Angels (Press 53), which won a 2012 Nautilus Silver Award for Poetry, and the Gold Medal for Poetry in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Books Awards. Please visit her website at http://terrikirbyerickson.wordpress.com/ for more

information about her life and poetry.