Lady at Starbucks

I like to study the faces of elderly people. Their wrinkles sometimes remind me of one of those atlas maps that have all the little lines that connect towns and cities. Most people want to get rid of their wrinkles so they ll look younger but I think there are other reasons too. Maybe they re afraid someone would be able to tell too much about them just by observing. If you practice you can read those creases just like the lines in the atlas. You can tell a lot about what a person has experienced what they have done, how they relate to others, whether their life has been happy or not. I see lots of women in the city whose faces look like masks from plastic surgery. They must know whatever they re doing isn t making them look any younger. They re just hiding their lives behind a mask.

I sat at Starbucks next to an old lady. This lady has lots of wrinkles all over her face. A lifetime of lines cross from the edges of her eyes to her cheekbones to the bridge of her nose to the corners of her mouth. The lines don t seem like a heavy weight for her to carry though. Somehow, there s still a feeling about her that reminds me of when you first open presents on Christmas morning that expectancy, that same kind of joy. I m sure she s around eighty years old. I wonder how it feels to live all those years and still wake up looking for a happy surprise around the next corner. Maybe being loved a long time does that to a person.