I have referred to these women as old ladies twice already. I did an exhaustive 3 minute IMBD search to find out how old these actresses were at the beginning of the series in 1985. Bea Arthur and Betty White were 63, Rue McClanahan was 51, and hold on to your hat, Estelle Getty was 62. Yeah, Sophia was younger than Dorothy and Rose in real life.
Well, I turned 57 a month ago, and that means that I am smack dab between Blanche and Dorothy, Rose, and technically Sophia, even though she was supposed to be playing an 80 year old. If I am being realistic, I am closer to Dorothy and Rose than Blanche because I will be 63 before I will be 51 again.
When we were young, newlyweds, and just starting out in life, we were so busy trying to arrive into a career, get an apartment or starter home furnished like a grown up’s house instead of a struggling college student’s dorm room. We couldn’t wait to start having children who in our imagination would be so cute, precocious, and be an adorable better version of ourselves. ( Which by the way, I think they are. We are very proud of them.)
It truly feels like yesterday that I was watching those crazy Golden Girls doing old lady stuff. According to the show one day in the waaaay distant future, I would be dressing in smart casual wear during the day and wearing silk and sequin dresses and gowns in the evening. I would be going on cruises, going out to dinner with attractive widowed doctors, going to the theater, volunteering, and generally having the time to finally do the things that I didn’t have time to do when I was younger. These women lived in style and I imagined that I would be doing all of those things, God willing, with my husband.
Well, here I am. I am going to have to ramp up my act to be as stylish as those women. I need to dress more stylishly at home for starters. They aren’t walking around in yoga pants (minus the actual doing yoga part). They are not sitting in recliners with an ice pack against their back not able to sleep because their back hurts. They are leaving the house to do fun and interesting things.
I realize now I have got to Get It Together. I am watching the Golden Girls as I type and I am taking notes. This is the year that I am going to get a little more glamorous in my everyday look even though elastic waistbands are soooo comfortable. I have an appointment tomorrow with the surgeon who is going to be doing my back surgery. I am getting that achy back under control and I am going to do physical therapy and exercise like it is my job. I am going to try to plan more fun things to do on the weekends besides chores.
My mission statement for this year is that a year from now I want to be a Golden Girl with as much style as I can. I’ve got some work to do. So…
Ta Ta for now. Kiss Kiss
She writes about life, death, grief, and recovery.
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