By ELLEN LEWIS
I am trying to decide whether or not I want to attend my 50th high school reunion in September. I have to purchase tickets soon. But something is stopping me, even though a rather robust Facebook group has kept me up to date on the comings and goings of some of my best friends from that time. Truth is, I am curious, but I really don’t care. I don’t grieve for those days. I have never looked back forlorn at my past and wished to return. Age has a way of clarifying our lives. Having passed through the hormonal surge of the 1960’s as a teenager and the 1970’s as a young woman, I am proud to admit that the best version of me began after I turned 50. Maybe its beginning horseback riding at 53, yoga at 54, starting this blog at 59, and moving to Mexico at 62. I just am not interested in reminiscence. I am who I am, proud of the insight that age has given me and frankly, don’t give a damn. And that attitude has enabled friendship with women who have also figured it out. Women like Elisabeth Dale, publisher of The Breast Life, author of The Bra Zone, stand-up comedian and lingerie model in all her 60 year old beauty.
I met Elisabeth through our blogging lives, but we became friends when she needed to escape the 2016 election drama and stayed with me in Cabo San Lucas for a week. That’s when I discovered this fiercely independent woman. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum in personal style; strutting her stuff while I prefer to fly under the radar. Age and attitude sealed the deal. Believing that our best selves are the women experience has allowed us to be, we both advocate that beauty resides in character. Character is carved in the lines of our faces and the drift of our bodies. As beauty is redefined in the market, the future of lingerie is clearly about diversity; not only race,religion, gender preference and size, but also age. The market is millennial obsessed and well they should be, but there are a slew of us out there who are not going anywhere soon. It’s a niche to be reckoned with!
“Invisibility is my new superpower. It allows me to walk in the world, unafraid and untethered by any expectations. Even in the age of non-stop news and cellphone alerts, there are fewer distractions. I’m finally free to be me. Not a wife. Not a mother. Not a daughter. Nothing else. Just me.” ~Elisabeth Dale
