Baby boomer blues

Facelifts have become a status symbol for women in our generation, according to Angela. Angela is an American friend of mine who is exactly my age (at the prime of baby boomerdom). At our age, you either start looking at the mirror with analytic alarm or you start avoiding the mirror. I’d been doing the latter ever since I hit 50. But growing numbers of my fellow baby boomers have not opted for the ostrich defense.

More than a million lifts are performed in the U.S. alone each year, and the number has been growing annually, thanks to women -- and a small percentage of men -- around my age who have more money and more medical options than any previous generation. Angela went on to say, "But unless you are disfigured as the result of an accident, fire, etc., or have a job where looking youthful is essential (e.g., news media people), I don't see the point."

Maybe I'll feel differently once I start to wrinkle, but I doubt it. My appearance is not that important to me. I should point out that Angela had a round, kewpie-doll adorable face as a young woman, and she still has a round, wrinkle-free face in middle age. Great skin and a plump facial structure help, of course.