I knew that I was never going to become a supermodel, even before the last forty years had its ugly way with me. It’s not like I had a face that could scare roaches, but I wasn’t winning any awards for my looks. Well, except for that time in eighth grade when I was chosen with about a hundred other girls to wear poofy antebellum dresses and wave at cars as townspeople rode through the neighborhoods looking at all the azaleas in full bloom. About ninety percent of the people we waved at were looking at the flowers, but for those of you in the ten percent who were checking out the little girls, I wrote down your license plate numbers.
The attention that older women are getting from pop culture has raised the ire of people who have nothing better to do than complain when someone thinks they’re pretty. Sure, terms like “cougar” do tend to objectify women and portray them negatively, which I think we’re supposed to say is bad. The ones I really feel sorry for are the poor cougars, proud members of the regal family of big cats, for being compared to a sad and frazzled middle-aged woman who dared to let her gaze linger a little longer than necessary on the sweet athletic young man who took her order of sixteen Happy Meals before the peewee soccer game. Trust me, she’s not adoring his boyish good looks, she’s star-struck by someone who made that much food appear without her having to cook any of it.
Recently, I was holding my two kids’ hands as we crossed a massive parking lot while foot-pushing my overloaded shopping cart in the general direction of an eight-year-old minivan whose engine light has been on since Bush The Lesser left office. A twenty-somethingish guy walking past me did that annoying “cough a word into his hand” thing and barked the acronym, “MILF.” By the time I figured out that he was actually trying to communicate something and not out to infect my children with a horrendous disease that would mean I had to keep them home from school for several days, the moment had passed and the magic was gone.
On behalf of liberated women everywhere I should have been totally offended. The fact that my two daughters were beside me means I should have turned on him like a cougar (only this one has rabies AND tuberculosis) and demanded to be treated like a human being and not a sex object.
Instead, I was just freakin’ jazzed that someone thought I vaguely resembled something akin to physical attractiveness. It must have been the clean shirt I had bothered to put on that day.
I’m still trying to figure out when we decided that being complimented for our appearance was a bad thing. Okay, I freely admit that the term he used is a little on the icky side, but it’s not like PILD (Plumber I’d Like to Date) or SAN (Sexy Awesome Nun) or GIHF (Goat I’m Hot For). Crude? Why, yes he was. Violated? Why, no I wasn’t. Flattered? I probably shouldn’t be.
But in my dark moments when I’ve thrown a winter coat of my pajamas to finally get more Cascade because my kids are eating cereal with chopsticks out of my nine-by-thirteen pans, and some weirdo with a thing for bunny slippers takes the time to comment in passing on my waaaay-inner beauty (and I have to say, IN PASSING is crucial to his surviving this little conversation), I won’t use my cougar fangs to bite his head off.
Lorca Damon 
Brilliant! I came perilously close to spewing Diet Pepsi out of my nose while I was reading this.
You should change your username to lorcamilf. 😉
Holy crap I love your blog! There’s nothing wrong with being a milf! 🙂
Holy SHIT. I’m scraping chunks of dinner off my screen, I laughed so hard. AND I’m premenstrual. Damn, girl.
Oh my gosh, I never even considered the fact that I might have been IN HEAT when the guy Milf-ed me! LOL
Ther aren’t any women twice my age. ROFL. Poor cat- what a rep it has now.
Great piece… I mean post, Lorca. Women who take care of themselves– no matter age– are appealing and deserve compliments.
A good slap would have made that youngin wish it had been phrased differently.
I’m still laughing at your word play and it is amazing how the can make so much food so quick.
Lorca. I got a SPAM for Cougar Dating. LOL. I still don’t know what that is. Thanks a lot, lol.
It means women twice your age want you. Just go with it. :~)
I think as we age, and as we become parents, we start to lose site of what we look like to other people. We see ourselves tired, worn out, rolling out of bed, looking just as crappy as we sometimes feel.
Getting compliments like that? Totally brighten the day. Sure, my hubby compliments me all the time… but, he’s been staring at me now for almost 14 years. Not exactly the same as someone fresh off the street, ya know?
One of the most sex appeal lifting moments of my adult life happened while crossing the street in front of about 20 guys on motor cycles. Yes, I was wearing a short-ish skirt, and boots. But I didn’t feel -that- great looking. It was a time frame when I more or less didn’t care.
But those bikers? They were all reving their engines, and cat calling while I briefly strutted my shit across the road.
And I lived on THAT high for at least 2 months. 😉
I know it! I teach in a juvenile correctional facility and the best part of my job is getting ready for work then looking in the mirror and thinking, “Nope, THIS could be too appealing to the inmates!” Hey, look for the silver lining anywhere you can find it!!!
Baahahaha!!! That guy sounds like a real charmer.
Hey, I was just grateful someone cared! LOL
😀
ROFL. Hey, if its ok to appreciate bodies on a canvas, why not the real thing? Art is art. “course the paintings won’t punch you out for any kind of comment.
BTW, in a pinch you can run the dishwasher with vinegar or chlorox just to get through the day…….and never mind how I know that.
Heheh! 😉