The Bald and Beautiful

“It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.” ― Edgar Allan Poe

My wife is a geriatrician. She works with the elderly. She's one of the good doctors who tries to make sure your grandmother is doing well in her older life. I've mentioned it before—there are better angels in this world, and I firmly believe my wife is one of them.

My wife brought to my attention about something that we will all face if we long enough is that you age and get slower, less cognitively “there” and have a hard time keeping up with the “youths” of the day. I don’t really care about getting older myself but what I do care about is my wife said that elderly women, feel invisible.

I'm 51. My wife is also around my age, and we're getting to the point where we don't completely feel invisible, but we certainly take a back seat to things in our 50s. That can be a little weird, of course. But the main thing is that I wanted you guys to know that elderly people feel invisible and it costs nothing to say “hello” or even acknowledge their presence.

As I was riding my bike through my neighborhood, I saw an elderly lady pushing her grandson's daughter in a stroller. She had on a wig, which was not fitted properly on her head, so it was very obvious that it was a wig. And, you know, just your normal old people clothes and everything. I try—though I'm not very good at it—to make a point to say hello to people a lot older than I am, or just anybody in general. I don't want anybody to feel invisible. We all want to be seen.

So I smiled and waved at her, and she smiled back and kind of adjusted her hair to make sure she looked presentable as we all do when we are seen. I’m sure she felt a little nervous about her wig, but Grandma, you're rocking without it. You don't need that wig to look beautiful. So be your bald self, and you're okay, boomer.