4/21/08 Getting Old

This morning, in a moment of
painful childhood honesty,
Cookie looked at me and said,

"Mom, you look old."

And I, misunderstanding it to be
the beginning of something charming, said,

"What do you mean, honey?"

And he elaborated by saying,

"Well, you are getting a lot of wrinkles
and you look tired and I think you're
finally getting really old."

I didn't cry. Not right then.