Age Defiant, Confident Women

Last night I saw Cyndi Lauper and Cher in concert.  Seeing Cher in concert is one of the things on my bucket list, because you know she puts on a good show and there are just certain people you should see in concert in your lifetime.  Being a child of the 80's, Cyndi Lauper was the icing on the cake.  I was amazingly excited to be there - even though my seats were in the second to last row in the upper deck.  I knew I was experiencing something really cool and I wanted to drink in every minute of it.

They didn't disappoint!  Cyndi's flaming red hair and little girl voice giving life lessons between songs; Cher's tell it like it is attitude, amazing costumes and elaborate theatrics were everything I had expected and then some.  There were however, two things that struck a chord with me that I hadn't expected. 

The first was their age.  At 60 and 68 (yes, Cher is 68 - not that her plastic surgeon knows that) these two have still got it!  Ok, yes - if you watched the "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" video so many times that you have the dance moves memorized, Cyndi's moves aren't quite as exaggerated as they used to be.  But as she rolled around on stage, I was mesmerized.  I watched her, thinking, she just moves to the music as she sees fit.  How cool is that?  It just looks like if she wants to dance, she dances.  I took that attitude to heart when she started to sing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.  Since I was soooo far away, most of the people in my section were bobbing their heads while they stayed in their seats.  I thought about the fact that if I stand up to dance, I'll be blocking the view of the people behind me.  I'll feel weird being the only one dancing.  Then I thought, I want to dance!  How do you NOT dance to this song???  So I did.  I was indeed the only one dancing in the immediate area and at first it did feel weird - then it didn't.  It was great!

I lost track of how many costume changes Cher had, but they were all amazing, most of them sparkled, all were sexy and she rocked every one of them! (including her Believe costume from the 90's)  She not only danced with the other dancers on stage, she did it in a headdress!  And when I realized that through her second to last costume, you could see the sparkling pasties she had covering her nipples, I thought man, she's got guts!  I wanna show off my boobs when I'm 68.  Ok, I really don't.  But I didn't show off my boobs when I was younger either.  What struck me is that both of these women are doing what they've always done.  They haven't let age slow them down or change the way they do things.  That's what I was impressed with.

If I'm honest with you, I don't really think that 60 or even 68 is "old."  What I do believe is that a lot of people use those numbers (or sometimes even smaller numbers) as excuses.  That's what I want to avoid.  If at some point, I physically can't do something, then I can't.  I understand that sometimes happens.  I also understand that physical setbacks aren't always related to age.  If they were, then every old person would have the same setbacks.  Is it lifestyle that makes a difference?  Attitude?  Good genes?  Probably all of the above to some degree.  My point is this: I love that Cher came out on that stage, told us that she was going to change costumes, sing and be fabulous - and then she did!

The second thing that struck me was their confidence.  Obviously, if you're a rock star, you have a level of confidence that not everyone possesses.  But it was more than that.  It wasn't just the confidence in their performances or the production.  They were comfortable in their skins.  You couldn't put two more different people on the stage.  Yet they respected each other and stood strong within themselves.  This was the most amazing thing to witness.  I'm sure it's because I've been on this journey of mine for the past few years and in the last year or so, I've been very focused on my identity.  It was like I had been fumbling around in the dark and all of a sudden, I could see the light.  Now, I'm not saying that twenty years from now, I'm gonna whip my boobs out or dye my hair bright red, but I stared at them and thought - this is the goal!  You travel these journeys and you dig deep to figure out the truth of who you are so that you don't hide.  You don't question yourself.  You don't stay sitting down when you want to dance. 

Hopefully it's not going to take me until I'm 68 to get there.  As a matter of fact, just today I had a moment in a confrontation with someone where I could actually feel the confidence coming off of me.  So the pieces of myself that I like are already well on their way.  It's those pieces that I'm still working on, still figuring out, that are going to take some time for the confidence to swell.

Lucky for me that I tend to see things that not everyone sees.  You know, like seeing age defiance and confidence, when others only see bright red hair and glittery pasties.

The Backyardigans

I miss the Backyardigans.  There, I said it.  I do.  I miss the Backyardigans.  For those of you who haven't had small children recently, you might be asking, "The Back-yard-a-who-igans?"  And that is a very valid question.  The Backyardigans is a TV show about five friends who imagine their back yards into amazing adventures.  There are always fun songs they sing and usually some sort of good moral message.  Both of my daughters LOVED the Backyardigans and so did I.

Something happened the other day that reminded me of one of the episodes and I shared my trip down memory lane with the girls.  My ten year old responded that it reminded her of a different episode.  When I asked which one, she immediately started describing it in great detail.  Not an unusual occurrence except that I don't remember that episode.  What???  Can it be that since they don't watch the DVDs constantly over and over again, that there's an episode that I've missed? 

Now in the grand scheme of life, that's probably an ok thing.  And to be perfectly honest with you, I'll probably get over it in twenty minutes or so.  However - it was a reminder of how fleeting their childhood is.  "The days are long, but the years are short."  There used to be days - possibly entire weeks - that The Backyardigans were playing on my TV all. day. long.  (yes - I'm that parent, who allowed the TV to be on all day)  Right at this moment, though, I don't remember the last time it was on.  Months?  Years? 

At only ten and eight years old, they're already into different things.  The Backyardigans don't make the cut.  We're even out of the iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place phase.  (I really liked those shows too.)  I guess that's why they say you should pay attention.  Enjoy them while they're young.  My grandmother used to say, "Don't wish your life away."  I may say that every now and then.  Yet, even as the words are coming out of my mouth, I don't always listen.  I find myself looking forward to not having to help with homework.  I'm jealous of my friends with teenagers who can drive themselves all over town.  There are even days when I think, "if I hear 'Mommy!!!' one more time..."

Hmmm....blogging about missing helping with homework....

Yeah, right now, I still can't picture that one.  However, I'm thinking on our annual road trip this year, I just might have to unearth those Backyardigans CDs.  I bet they'll love that!!!

(well - at least I will)