Dimples Pimples and Wrinkles

There are three physical phases that mark people’s advancement in age: dimples, pimples, and wrinkles. The first, dimples are really noticed as a child. Mother, aunts, and other matronly friends and relatives adore those wonderful crescent skin divots. “Aren’t they just the cutest things?” They may cry and descend on the unsuspecting child giving cheek pinches and forehead kisses. Well meaning they may be, but their uninvited intrusion on the child’s psyche and body may cause irreparable damage. These older gals sometimes don’t know their own strength and can bruise these poor children. And the kissing is little more than the spreading of nasty germs.

A bit later in each child’s life, hormones begin an assault on their body. Teenagers’ skin flushes with oils. The greasy film fills the pores and packs them with debris. Acne mars the skin and self confidence. Piles of these pimples pollute the face and body, marring the delicate egos of these insecure young adults. This plague has reached a point where the television is filled with hours of advertisements. They proclaim the advantages of scrubs, brushes, lotions, and ointments to prevent the damages from these blemishes and to restore the confidence of these young men and women.

The most recent homage paid to these blackheads and infectious pockets is the television series, “Dr. Pimple Popper.” As a nurse, I’ve seen my share of zits, furuncles, carbuncles, and pustules. The odor, the amount, and the toxic nature of the drainage will suffice me for a lifetime. I’m not sure what the fascination is with these shows and YouTube videos. Maybe people are just glad it’s not them.

Now to share my final point, wrinkles. I am talking about life-gained wrinkles, not just the ones a person can get on their hands from staying in the bathtub or pool too long, but the actual, age-earned wrinkles; wrinkles that have carved channels into the face, forehead, and hands. These chasms have been won by years of laughter, tears, and pain. Fleshly canyons that remain have been etched deeply into our hearts, souls, and skin. These emotional trenches map the past paths we’ve traveled,

Although the skin appears to have been roughened by these seemingly unending ripples, often the skin has become delicate and tissue paper thin. Has time worn away our protective layer? Is this skin more fragile that age hardened person still trapped inside? Volumes of history and vast experience are preserved in the pages of the person that is bound within.