"The Ageless Woman" by Bonnie Crowder

May 18, 2011 

by Bonnie Crowder in Feminism

 

To think of a woman who embodies the word ageless conjures in my mind a picture of a woman middle-aged or older. She has wrinkles and her hair is streaked with gray. Her skin is beginning to show some of the papery texture that comes with age. She is smiling.

She gives off warmth. Her eyes hold wisdom, her smile confidence.

Her hands are draped across her lap in a pose that indicates complete comfort with herself.

When she walks, it is neither too fast nor too slow.

Her arms are quick to hug.

She is a good listener and knows when to offer advice and when to just open her ears.

She has never lost the ability to get silly like a child, and she enjoys activity and play.

She creates art without fear of failing or ridicule; she creates it for herself and because of that it is always beautiful.



She has been down a long path her in life. There has been incredible joy and insurmountable pain. She has not shied away from any of it, rather choosing to embrace every emotion and gather it into her soul where it grows into the wisdom with which she will guide the next generation.

When she holds you, you can feel that she has been there, that she remembers the pain you are feeling now, and you can feel the strength it has given her. And you can feel that fact that it does, indeed, pass. When she laughs with you, the sound wraps you in all the happiness she's felt and held on to over the years. And you know there will always be more happiness somewhere ahead.

But when you look deeper, you get the sense that there is something altogether wilder in her, too. She is deeply in tune with the world, and she trusts her intuition above all else. She sees Truth and does not hide it nor does she hide from it. To know her is to be forced to face Truth.

She has the capacity for anger, but it is a good anger, a productive anger. It is not uncontrolled or violent and she uses it only to exert change in the world. It is beautiful; like a goddess at work tearing down and creating anew. It is wild and frightening to behold, but equally does it create a feeling of comfort to know such a powerful force exists for good in the world.

Strangely, her wildness makes you crave her more. Where, in your younger days, you feared wildness, you are learning that it is that which makes us wholly women. And to avoid wildness is to avoid wisdom –- to stay a maiden forever. Which is the antithesis to agelessness. This wild, ageless woman -- you want not only to be loved by her, but to learn from her. As you talk with her on various subjects, you glean bits of wisdom that you tuck away into your heart. Bits of wisdom that you find yourself pulling out from time to time and thinking on, learning from, using in your own life, sharing with others.

Before you know it, your hair is starting to show gray, your eyes have wrinkles when you smile, your skin is beginning to look papery and delicate. Before you know it, you are holding women younger than you and laughing with them. Before you know it, they are craving your presence, they are hiding your bits of wisdom away in their hearts.

Before you know it, you have become ageless like the woman before you. Teaching the next generation what agelessness means. It means wisdom and silliness. It means the anger and passion of creation without the chaos of violence. It means never turning from the pain or joy in your life, but rather allowing it to forge you into the wise, beautiful, fierce and graceful goddess you are destined to become.

To think of a woman who embodies the word ageless conjures in my mind exactly the woman I hope to be someday. But this does not come accidentally, it comes through deep and focused intention. A choice to follow this path. Repeatedly, as you walk down the path of life, you will find yourself facing choices. Typically it will be the harder choices you will have to make to follow the more rewarding path. But, oh! how rewarded you will be. Love. Widsom. Peace. Joy.

Agelessness.