Sixty and Still Sexy!

It’s funny how your perspective on age changes as you progress through the years. When I was a kid, sixty seemed absolutely ancient. Surely anyone that old must remember the flood, and the parting of the Red Sea! As a teenager, anyone sixty or older belonged on life-support, or at least a walker in one of those places where they fed you oatmeal and the T.V. shows were old re-runs of old shows. Once I hit thirty, sixty didn’t seem quite so old. I mean there was always golf; not to mention shuffle board, and bridge. After all, sixty-year-olds still had a social life. By the time I hit forty I was looking at sixty through different eyes, and once fifty hit me, sixty looked really good! After that, the next nine years flew by and on a fateful April day, I hit the big six-o.

The realization that I had reached this milestone in my life, instead of sending me into cardiac arrest, actually had a calming effect. While acknowledging the fact that my life has not been perfect, I recognized that it has been a good life; a life that has had purpose. Yet at the same time, I remembered myself as a young person and wondered if I was ready for the ‘old folks home’, or if I still had IT. Having IT meant you had particular qualities that made you attractive and desirable...sexy. Was it possible to still be sexy at sixty?

To answer this question, I had to determine what defined ‘sexy’. I read countless magazines, eavesdropped on male conversations, and became an avid observer of people. The younger crowd tends to attach the term to a drop-dead gorgeous girl with a killer body. Guys are judged pretty much the same. However, I have learned that it has nothing to do with beauty, or body type. In fact, some of the sexiest people I know are not a size 6, neither do they have six-pack abs. True sexiness is more an attitude than an outward appearance. It is confidence. A confidence in self; who you are. It is a walk, a certain look in your eye. It is in your relaxed body language that says you don’t have anything to prove. It is being comfortable not having to be the center of attention because you don’t need others to validate you; you know your own self worth. It is in that certain mystery you have about you.

This sexiness is one that won’t fade with the next whim of society. In fact, I believe it can only come with maturity; when we can truly appreciate a person for who they are. Looks fade, but real sexiness can last a lifetime.