When I was about 12 there was a woman in my ward in her 60's, maybe 70's, who was very tall. Maybe even a little taller than me. She had skinny legs and a barrel chest. She seemed to cast a shadow on me whenever I was near her. She looked like if she toppled over she would land like a tree, and with a loud 'FRUMP!' She looked kind of scary, honestly. And I had a realization:
I will never be cute.
Most women when they get old, get a twinkle in their eye, and they round out and they're cute, and you want to hug them, they seem loving.
This person I'm imagining is not tall. Perhaps not short, but definitely not nearly 6 feet tall. When a 6 foot tall person rounds out, they look hulking and looming and scary.
I do not have the option of enjoying chubbiness in my old age and having it 'work' for me. Tall slender lady is all I can ever pull off, and it seems like a daunting future.
That is just the preface to what I really wanted to post today.
At the YMCA I saw this incredibly beautiful woman in her 50's. Not cougar beautiful, Mom beautiful. And she was almost as tall as me, and slender. And she was across the room I was stretching in. The first thought that came to mind when I saw her was - sexy. She gave me so much hope. I almost had tears welling up. I wanted to thank her.
How crazy can I be? She for sure would think I was a stalker or coming on to her. And then I had Sister Kimball's
quote in my head, "
never suppress a generous thought.” So I decided to risk it. Plus she didn't know me, so if I super embarrass myself, I'll probably never see her again. I walked right over to her,
"You are so sexy and you give all us young mamas hope."
I am so weird! What is wrong with me?
She was very nice. "Thank you, I've had four children." And we had a 30 second conversation. Maybe if I can pull of sexy at 50 (back-up plan is to pull off nice, but I'm not that nice, so I'm kind of in trouble both ways.) someone tall who just had a baby and feels like an amazon woman can be encouraged that it is possible to look good and not scary as you age.
Thank you sexy YMCA lady.