Last week I saw an old friend who I hadn’t seen for years and nearly completely lost contact with. We tallied up the years and came to the conclusion that we hadn’t seen each other in over 15 years and we now had one hour to catch up a bit.

She told me about her sport regime, I told her of my lack thereof, my short nights (a result of a lot of work and three little alarm clocks, in the form of little girlies, that go off every morning at half past six without me having to do anything) and my daily glass of wine. Or two.

When I was back in the car, she sent me a text message letting me know that it was so great to see each other again and that I, especially for someone who travels a lot, sports little and drinks, still looks really, really good.

Of course I was pleased with the compliment, but one word was stuck in my head; still.
The point is that when you reach a certain age you cease to just simply look good, but it transforms into “still looks good”.
Does this imply that you still look as good as you did before, but we all know that any day now all this can come to an end? Or does it mean that you actually no longer look good at all, but if your looks are coupled with your extreme old age, the end result is that you are still not doing too bad?

Once passing the boundaries of forty, your age is attached to a scoring report that is based on your looks. If you are still looking fantastic at fifty, it could be that people just take you for someone in their early forties with an old face. But if that person knows that you’re actually 54, then you’re suddenly doing extremely well for yourself.

My best friend Anna (nine years older than me and unfairly stunning), recently gave me the best tip. “Always round your age up. Then it matches more with the appearance.” Since her 43rd, on meeting people, she proclaimed to be “approaching fifty”, and then would let herself swim in the “but how do you do it” compliments.

From now on I’m taking that tip on board. I’m not 42, but nearly 45. Further I’m guessing I should just be happy that I’m still in the ‘still’ phase. Always better than “You would never believe it, but there was a time, long, long ago, that she was quite an attractive woman.”
After much fretting and pondering, I decided to just be happy with every kind word offered. For as long as it lasts. Here’s to the decline! That it may take forever.