View From the Crow's Nest

I woke up this morning and maneuvered toward the bathroom in a sleepy haze. My first glance in the mirror revealed my typical morning look of wild hair and sleepy eyes. It also revealed “crow’s feet.”

Yes, radiating out from the corners of my eyes were crow’s feet—three telltale wrinkles. Oh, how happy I was to see them on my own sweet face.

Even as a young girl, I always loved crow’s feet. My grandpa had them. So did Robert Redford as I gazed up at him on the big screen in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I saw them on sailors who spent time in the wind and the sun and the water. I savored them on old women, whose wrinkled faces radiated compassion and told the story of their lives.

Gentle, beautiful wrinkles accentuating the eyes that have witnessed our entire lives. They are the sign of time spent outdoors in nature, the sign of aging with grace and the sign of wisdom. I wear mine proudly for they are a symbol of the understanding I have gained thus far and the knowledge still to come.