My Body is Like Driving an Old Ford
Ford Motor Company has always bragged, “We build our cars, Ford tough.”
Although I’d like to think that’s the case I must ponder the phrase Ford tough’s true meaning. Sure if you’re a truck or SUV, but what if you need body work of another kind?
I’ve suddenly turned into an old Ford needing increased maintenance and new parts every time I turn around.
Where one might think it economical to drive an older car, especially with car prices today, replacing every part has become quite a hassle and quite expensive.
It seems every time I fix something on my body, something else breaks.
Don’t even start me on the whole look of the paint job. Even Earl Scheib couldn’t replace the showroom new shine on my face.
You replace a flat tire and bang the brakes go. You put in a new transmission and boom the ignition breaks.
No different with this old tired body here.
You replace a knee and bang the hip goes.
You inject the Botox and boom the neck falls four feet.
The maintenance is constant.
I wonder if there’s enough duct tape to hold up all the parts of my body that have just thrown up their hands and said, “screw it, gravity you win.”
Aging is no fun and although most of us admit we still feel young inside, an old Ford can never look as good as a new Mustang leaving the showroom.
There are those that love to restore old cars. In Detroit there is a yearly ritual called the Woodward Dream Cruise.
Every summer those who have restored the amazing old cars from the fifties and sixties and perhaps older, including the muscle cars, like the GTO and Chevelle, Corvettes and others that looked new and shiny parade them down Woodward Avenue. Amazing what some spare parts can do.
Over one million attend the one-day happening on the third Saturday of August and it is the largest automotive event in the country.
So obviously there is a penchant to restore the old?
Well if that’s the case why not make it easier for us oldies to get replacement parts?
Auto parts stores are everywhere and you can even get the hard to find old pieces in junkyards and places that carry just that sort of thing?
But an old broad like me must search high and low to restore this face and body.
I would like to open a special warehouse for replacement parts for baby boomers.
Need a new knee, aisle three. New hips on special, two for one on aisle six and the Botox drive through is open as you exit the parking lot.
Duct tape for butt and boob lifts two for one on four and laser lifts just past the organic groceries and vitamins near the cash registers.
Blue light special on aisle one for wigs and toupees and Spanx 50% off sale in the rear.
Wow what a time saver this would be. One stop shopping for all your body needs.
A regular Costco with samples and demos to teach you how to walk without pain, pick out the perfect arch supports and don’t forget the all important tooth whitener for your implants. Oh and implants on aisle eight where all the painful screaming is coming from.
Yep, after a trip to the body parts store you’ll come out shiny as new with your hood ornament gleaming.
Now if Detroit could come up with this and build all the parts Ford tough, I’m all in.
Sadly, it takes more than duct tape to lift your butt or your boobs. Baby boomers are definitely in a conundrum because we all feel so young inside but the outside despite creams and lotions and a healthier lifestyle than our parents can only do so much.
Laser treatments and Botox are not terribly invasive options, but costly just the same.
Plastic surgery prices have gone through the roof and despite how much we’d like to remain uncut, it’s hard not to envy that shiny new wrinkle free neck on your sister on law.
Especially when your chin is now resting on your boobs.
In the end when we pass a mirror we want to match the person we are inside, 21 years old. It’s not so much about vanity as it is about wanting all of our parts to be in sync.
I don’t care how great an attitude you possess about aging, it’s hard for one’s spirits not to sag a bit when there are ten-pound Hefty bags under your eyes and you hardly recognize yourself. Wow, I really look a lot about my grandmother now!
I truly don’t believe it’s about wanting to look ridiculously young, but about wanting to see us as your our self; vibrant and youthful, not old and decrepit.
Hard to get happy when the number of wrinkles is almost equal to your blood pressure reading.
So we must trudge forward because if we’re lucky we’ll get older and continue to be part of the world. To enjoy our family, travel, work, indulge our hobbies and interests and socialize with others of like minds.
So I’m signing up for that new spare parts membership warehouse and filling my basket with all new fun stuff at big-box prices.
And remember; if you can’t fix it, duct it!
Lox and Bagel Bites
2 cucumbers
1 tub pareve cream cheese, whipped or regular
1 tablespoon finely chopped sweet onion
4 ounces approximately of nova lox cut up
Bagel chips
1 hardboiled egg optional
Fresh dill
Caviar
Cut cucumbers in inch thick circles
Hollow out seeds and pat dry and set aside
Mix together lox onions and cream cheese and lightly salt and pepper. Remember lox can be salty so go slow with the seasoning
With a teaspoon or a pastry bag fill cucumber rounds with cream cheese mixture.
Garnish with pieces of bagel chips and a sprig of fresh dill, and if so desired grate some hardboiled egg on top. Add a ¼ teaspoon of caviar for an extra zing.
NormaZager.com 