A friend sent me a link to the photographic work of Tom Hussey. Among his series is one entitled Reflections. (Please take a moment to look at the work. I respect (a) copyright, and (b) his professionalism too much to copy the pictures. Here is the link: http://www.tomhussey.com/#/SERIES%20%20/Reflections/1 )
Each photograph features an older person looking in the mirror and seeing a reflection of the person as they see themselves: a young efficient nurse, a physically fit firefighter, a university graduate, a stunning young artist. The photographs give us a voyeuristic view of both sides.
When my mother-in-law lived in her long-term care facility, we put pictures of her as a young, fit woman in her room. The pictures weren’t there just for her; they were there for her care staff. We wanted everyone who walked into her room to see more than a wheelchair-bound old woman, no longer able to speak. The woman in that room once played in the Canadian Open tennis championships. (Early rounds, but still.) At the age of 80, the woman in that room could outpace me on cross-country skis. When the woman in that room looked in the mirror, she saw this:
Now that I’m, ahem, getting on years, I relate to this far more than I would like. I look in a mirror and wonder, “When did those wrinkles get there?” I think, “I’m too young for such a thing to be happening to me.”
Alas, time is changing my outer self, but rest assured, when I look in a mirror, I see this . . .
Editing at Maclean Hunter Cable TV – 1990
or this . . .
Dancing like nobody is watching.
or even this . . .
Conducting an early business meeting
If the rest of you see a middle-aged woman, sorry about that.
As so often happens, your subject matter intrigues me and reminds me why I chose to follow your blog in the first place. Today, right after I post this, in fact… I will find a framed, smiling photo of myself and put it next to my mirror, to remind me of not only the woman I once was, but the woman I am now… A slightly older but much more complete version.
I had fun looking through my old pictures and seeing how often I was smiling and doing something fun. That was good therapy, too. Thanks for supporting my blog!
Honestly, you don’t look much different. Unlike the rest of us 😉
You are sweet to say so. I still feel young at heart, but sometimes I look at photos and think, “Is that really what I look like?” The camera doesn’t lie!
A couple of months ago I was with a friend who is in her late 50s. The light caught her face in such a way as to highlight the laugh lines around her eyes. It also caught the pucker lines on her upper lip and the deep lines on either side of her mouth. I almost gasped. I thought I had never seen her look so beautiful.
Jennifer
Lovely. Beauty that is not associated with youth, but with character.