Miranda "Whatever Happened to Aging Gracefully?" Carrie "It Got Old"

I was scanning the covers of the magazines this month in the grocery store last night. The "cover girls" were Christie Brinkley, who is 53; Michelle Pfieffer, who is 51; and Sandra Bullock, who is 44. These women give me hope. Without doing an age reveal here, because after all, who cares, I will say that I am closer to Sandra than the others. My other similarity with Bullock is that she and I are both the same number of years older than our husbands. (The Husband is now looking up the age of Jesse James, because he likes to make sure that I am "keeping it real")

Christie is on the front of Redbook. She's been in the news lately because of her kind of sordid divorce, but this article is more about how she stays looking so lovely. She has always been a beauty, but at 53, she looks amazing. She says that she does use Botox, but she doesn't say if she has done anything else. She's obviously in terrific shape, which she attributes to vigorous workouts. (She does those infomercials for the Total Gym...she must really use it.)

Bullock is the "baby" of the three at 44, and as I have mentioned the last few days, she looks great in The Proposal. She is actually 11 years older than Ryan Reynolds, but she looks so good that you don't even notice the difference...at least I didn't...and The Husband said he would never have known. She graces the cover of several magazines this month (Glamour, Bazaar,etc.) and she claims to not use Botox...no "procedures". She says when it is time to do a movie, she just works out. I love her attitude...she's a wife, step-mom, actress, restaurant owner...I mean, she is an all-around person who seems really down to earth. Plus, I love her style...kind of bohemian cool-chick.

Pfieffer is just a beauty. At 51, she also claims to have had no work or procedures done...she's afraid of Botox....and you can see in pictures that she has the lines and such, but she is just gorgeous in an ephemeral kind of way. I love the way she is aging. I think she is more beautiful now than she was 15 years ago. It is interesting that her last 3 movies have paired her with men anywhere from 10 to 2o years younger than she is...but it never looks creepy. When asked what her beauty rituals are, I love her answer. She says that there are no secret diets or creams...it is all a matter of eating well, sleeping well and working out....and some air brushing. She claims that when a movie is coming up, she works out like crazy and takes care of herself...and has a team of make up and hair stylists who help! I just love that honesty.

I think as you get older, you keep looking "ahead" for older women who give you hope. In your twenties, you look at thirty-somethings to see what your future holds. At thirty, you look at forty...and these days, it doesn't seem so old at all. At forty....you look down the road to fifty and wonder...But if Michelle and Christie are representative of what it looks like, I'm not so worried about going there...

I have no judgement about Botox or plastic surgery, but I think I would be scared to death of both. You see too many women who have gone this route and just look plain strange...not like themselves. I'm not talking about Joan Rivers or people who have just completely gone crazy with it. But just people whose face doesn't match their skin or body. It just looks un-natural. When people speak of "aging gracefully", those are powerful words. To me, it means aging with dignity and humility...and not trying to be who you were 20 years ago. I remember reading a piece by Carrie Fisher where she talked about how her mom, Debbie Reynolds, went to a reunion...and only one lady there had not had "work" done. She said that it was a very strange reality to realize that we are forgetting what it looks like to be a certain age.

Of course, it is always easy to stand up on the high-horse before you "get there". Talk to me in 10 years, and maybe I will be praising Botox and collagen, with absolutely no movement in my face....But I hope not....

So until tomorrow... when I will be a day older, but also a day wiser...