Seventeen Degrees and an Older Face

Did you know I Aqua Zumba now? It’s quite entertaining from whichever side of the water you’re on. If you’re me in the pool, doing Latin dance moves and splashing about like a hopped-up, chubby Loch Ness Monster, you are entertained because you are the youngest person in the pool and, compared to the other ladies, you are lithe and smooth and full of woo-woo-fiesta-chlorine mojo. If you’re poolside, like all the people who wander in to check out whether they would like to join the gym and happen upon the tsunami that is uncoordinated ladies grooving and jiving in the water, I can’t think you would find it anything but “you’ll never believe what I saw” fodder for your friends later.

But there was no class for me tonight. On the way to my car after work, with the full intention of zipping over to the gym, I realized that I forgot to pack a towel this morning. I have a friend who forgot her towel once when she went to do her swim laps; she grabbed a blanket out of the car and used that.

Um, no.

There is no way in Hello Jell-O that I'm going to take a blanket in with me, and no way that I am going to try to use itty-bitty gym towels to dry off. It is 17° outside and my hair already makes icicles after class on the way back to the car even when the rest of me is dry. Home instead tonight!

On an additional entertainment note, I had a new passport photo taken today. My last was in 2001 when I was headed to Italy. I love that passport photo. I'm 40 pounds lighter, I have long BROWN hair, and, well, it's ten years ago. Today’s picture will not be 40 pounds lighter, will not have as much brown in my locks, and will find me pastier and laden with with wrinkles above and below and side to side. Could make one a bit bummed.

Then, of course, it made me giggle. And giggling transitioned to gratitude. My face reflects ten years of living a life I never imagined. It tells the story of leaving a job and students I loved, changing careers a couple of times, moving to a new state, and learning new things. There’s a groove in my forehead that I am sure I can attribute solely to the “focus furrow” that appeared as I learned to knit and purl last year.

My face in 2011 tells the story of new friendships, deepening old ones, and people to love and miss from places like Russia, Jordan, Lebanon, Kenya, Uganda, Romania, and Spain. It experienced an international courtship, a house sale, a house purchase and a refi, a zillion plane flights to California and back, invaluable talks with its mom and dad, and new nephews and a niece forcing it to make ridiculous maneuvers to entertain them.

It walked through the birth of friends’ children and the loss of friends’ children; it spoke at a funeral for 17-month-old. It said goodbye to a beloved grandfather and witnessed its niece arriving into the world, live and in person. It uttered encouraging words and it uttered hurtful words it wanted to suck back in moments later.

Most gratefully, this face learned, and is learning, to look to its Maker more, to bask in His radiance, and to trust His viewpoint and provision and goodness. And I heard Him whisper tonight on the way home when I glanced in the rearview mirror that my wrinkles make Him giggle, too.

It’s been a good decade, Face. I think I’ll keep ya :)