What if Old Were Sexy
by Patricia Flasch
What if we had a slight shift of perception?
Maybe more of a global paradigm shift…
What if we decided that old bodies were beautiful like the old majestic redwoods just outside Santa Cruz? Roots deeply woven in the mother – Wrinkled, strong trunks – Having weathered every storm – Branches reaching gracefully towards the sky…
When we forget “old” is sexy, just think of the way Leonard Cohen sings Hallelujah in his full bodied gravelly voice, or the way Mary Oliver writes a poem, or the way Coleman Barks delivers a rendition of a Rumi poem… just think of the love story of Jessica Tandy and Hume Chronyn. Think of Jack Benny and Bob Hope's sexy old man humor...
What would we do without Ram Das, sexy in his wheelchair after the stroke, saying his slow, sensual, powerful blessed words?
Think of the neighbor lady down the street in her walker with that gorgeous hump on her back… Or, of the old man sitting at the counter in the café, with those beautiful brown spots glowing on his slender arthritic hands…
Think of your own husband with the sexy silver hair and those new silver hearing aids to match.
Think of yourself; round, colorfully clad, fully present, deeply embodied, making her last holy offerings to this world…
Let’s just say “sexy” is a fullness, a richness, a knowingness of who we really are and it only comes when the fruit on the vine is truly ripe…
Maybe more of a global paradigm shift…
What if we decided that old bodies were beautiful like the old majestic redwoods just outside Santa Cruz? Roots deeply woven in the mother – Wrinkled, strong trunks – Having weathered every storm – Branches reaching gracefully towards the sky…
When we forget “old” is sexy, just think of the way Leonard Cohen sings Hallelujah in his full bodied gravelly voice, or the way Mary Oliver writes a poem, or the way Coleman Barks delivers a rendition of a Rumi poem… just think of the love story of Jessica Tandy and Hume Chronyn. Think of Jack Benny and Bob Hope's sexy old man humor...
What would we do without Ram Das, sexy in his wheelchair after the stroke, saying his slow, sensual, powerful blessed words?
Think of the neighbor lady down the street in her walker with that gorgeous hump on her back… Or, of the old man sitting at the counter in the café, with those beautiful brown spots glowing on his slender arthritic hands…
Think of your own husband with the sexy silver hair and those new silver hearing aids to match.
Think of yourself; round, colorfully clad, fully present, deeply embodied, making her last holy offerings to this world…
Let’s just say “sexy” is a fullness, a richness, a knowingness of who we really are and it only comes when the fruit on the vine is truly ripe…