I have always looked somewhat young for my age, which was annoying when I was a kid, especially as a teenager when I was in a hurry to be an adult.
I’m sure this has played a part in my not really dwelling about my appearance as I aged. Until 50 came along. That’s when I found myself noticing wrinkles that I swear had appeared overnight.
and hairs on my face that were going grey and seemed to be reproducing.
I pondered what my eyebrows were doing. They seemed to have concocted a mission of their own.
The ever-darkening bags under my eyes became a not-very-pleasant surprise every morning.
old scars that I had forgotten about made themselves known again.
None of the faces above are mine, of course.
The faces of Missy, Annie, Lucky, and Burrito, and those of all chimpanzees, are so full of character. Each one unique; different and special.
Their appearance too has changed in the time I’ve known them. They have more gray hair, deeper wrinkles, more scars, sometimes lumps and bumps that were not always there.
I could examine their faces all day – the delicate folds under their eyes, the wrinkles around their mouths that are even more noticeable when they purse their lips for a kiss or to make a raspberry sound. The tiny hairs on their lips and in their noses. They are all beautiful.
I’m glad that the chimpanzees don’t have our human vanities and insecurities. They are who they are today. They are who they are tomorrow. They don’t need calendars. They don’t count and compare the length of time they’ve been alive. They don’t need to spend time contemplating the passage of time and how that shows up on their faces and bodies.
They focus on the important aspects of their lives, like the sound a jolly ball makes when you bounce on it and the fresh pineapple on the menu at lunch.
I feel every bit of that, Diana, but it hit me at 58! :laughing:
You’re petite, that contributed to it. I’m right on the line. I remember getting “approached” (someone talking to me from his car as I walked down the street) in my late 30s, or having someone flirt with me in later years, and it was that feeling of getting carded again when you were well over 21. Or being told, “you shouldn’t move to town X, you’re too lively for town X” in my forties.
A friend complained of white hair in her eyebrows. Then I thought, “we complain when the little black hairs arrive, then we complain when the little white hairs arrive.” :sweat_smile:
The chimps seem to know that it’s not how you look, it’s how you feel. If you’re not yet feeling the mileage like Indiana Jones, keep on groovin’.
Maybe it’s the pineapple. I’m all for pibeapple with every meal! Who’s in?
Been there, done that Diana…..can’t think of many good things about getting older especially as the chimps seem to be doing it so much better than us humans. The other thing I’ve always loved is something else you touched on….time! They don’t know when the many party times are coming up, so it’s always a lovely surprise to have treats of food and other goodies. It doesn’t matter what day it is, they just enjoy the moments.
Loved their venture out yesterday, particularly Annie (?) trying to overtake without actually stepping onto the snow, and she’s also the one that I would love to question about ageing and beaty secrets…..she’s so pretty and never seems to age.
I hear you! Always young for my age, no one believed it when I turned 60. They believe my age now! :laughing: May we all age with the grace of chimps, and focus on what matters in life. ?
I thought the chimps were talking about me. This was an excellent paridy on aging and it was lovely.
Such a sweet post. Sigh….I don’t want to say it out loud but I do see the changes in the chimps as they’ve aged over the years. Still, there is something about them…. perhaps it’s a process of aging more gracefully than we do. Their spirits remain young. I do spend extra time examining their faces. I love zooming in, catching the twinkle in their eye, hair on their faces, changes to the shapes of their freckles, lines on their faces. (I hate to ask but what is that bump under Annie’s eye? Hope it’s just a wound healing.) Each individual so beautiful and perhaps even more so as they age.
I gave up looking in mirrors years ago. I hardly recognize who’s looking back at me! Maybe, just maybe the chimps love looking at their reflections in phones and mirrors because they are surprised by the changes on their faces just like us.
Annie has had that bump under her eye for a long time. Even going back to 2016, it’s there (just a bit smaller).
The chimps are “each unique, different and special.” So are we, the human primates We age, we change, we grow old. We are who we are and are valued from the inside out. I don’t envy youth. i envy the ability of the chimps living one day at a time. Today is finished, tomorrow comes. I believe that has given them the resilence to move on, forgive and forget what’s gone by,. You know, Diana you’ll never see the hairs on your face if you don’t look in the mirror. Just gaze into the eyes of your precious friends and see the beauty staring back.
That lovely song “You Are So Beautiful” comes to mind after reading this post, Diana, and while our beloved CSNW chimps male & female, have facially changed over the years (looking more radiant in some ways) their beauty still shines through. I know we can’t stay young or look like Audrey Hepburn but each of us has that inner beauty. So let’s rsise our glass to each other and the chimps. Our beauty shines on.
That lovely song “You Are So Beautiful” comes to mind after reading this post, Diana, and while our beloved CSNW chimps male & female, have facially changed over the years (looking more radiant in some ways) their beauty still shines through. I know we can’t stay young or look like Audrey Hepburn but each of us has that inner beauty. So let’s rsise our glass to each other and the chimps. Our beauty shines on.
That lovely song “You Are So Beautiful” comes to mind after reading this post, Diana, and while our beloved CSNW chimps male & female, have facially changed over the years (looking more radiant in some ways) their beauty still shines through. I know we can’t stay young or look like Audrey Hepburn but each of us has that inner beauty. So let’s rsise our glass to each other and the chimps. Our beauty shines on.
I remember being stunned when you turned 50, Diana! I would have thought you were just approaching 40 at that time. I, too, have always looked young for my age. Now in my 60s, it has been the ever more sagging of my jowls and the under eye bags, but no wrinkles. Just like my mother. It would be nice to age more like the chimps, where it’s less noticeable and hard to determine how old they really are.
Beauty emanates from within an individual’s soul, from the good treasure of a person’s heart. If Betsey Beauvine of rural Kittitas County believes that you merit a lick or two (at least) in the face, I assume that one’s beauty is recognized.
As for myself, the good looks were inherited by my kin folk: my little sister Jody, my grandmother Negra, and my cousin Burrito. As long as I am reminded of the resemblance between the afore-mentioned cousin and my other cousins who are descendents of our grandfather, I don’t worry at all about my looks…albeit, I could no doubt benefit from an invitation to a grooming makeover from the likes of Maeve.
Very touching writing, beautiful pictures, thank you! :hugging: Although I reject the idea of ever getting old (55), I’ve recently noticed that I’m (almost) more enchanted by wise old chimp ladies and aging alpha-turned-granddad type chimp gentlemen than cute-fluffy chimp infants. :monkey_face:
I have to say, I think that all of the chimps at CSNW have aged absolutely gracefully. Each wrinkle and gray hair is just a reminder of a day spent in sanctuary.