Rising Above Ageism

Aretha belts it out! Singing like an Old Lady.   My voice has changed ...  ... but I'm not alone in this. I love to sing, but my training was long ago when I was in high school and college.  I learned to be true to the pitch, to use my diaphragm, to pay attention to my breathing, to be dynamic with my volumes and to be respectful of the song.  It was classical training, albeit at a student level.  When I met my current partner Dan, a professional musician, a few years ago, he was eager to have me sing with him, especially in public. A person can sing all day long at home or in the studio, but a singer needs to sing in public in order to improve, he would tell me. He's a great musician and a great mentor and because of him I've gotten up in front of audiences (in wine bars, after I've had a little wine myself) and I've been received pretty well by friends and other wine drinkers.  But he has recorded me a few times, and I hear thing...

Worrying about my eyebrows ...  I know it's silly, but every morning when see my face in the mirror it's impossible to deny that my eyebrows are turning white.  Against my light complexion my brows appear to be fading away altogether, and it bothers me.  Since we are living during a time when thick, drawn-on eyebrows seem to be a fashion trend, it wasn't hard for me to decide to redefine mine using a brow pencil.  I've not hopped onto the stencil craze because although I've come to like the effect on many women,  I wouldn't be comfortable for my brows to look very dark and thick.  But I'm not ready to lose them altogether, so I practice my brow pencil line and hope my attempts look "natural".  Some of my friends have confided that they do the same...which comforts me, somehow.  All this is to say, like many women I DO think about my looks (and the effects of aging).  But it does trouble me when I reflect on how much of my mental ...