How I Earned my Wrinkles: Hilarious, Touching, True
Psssst: I’m not twenty any more. Nope, it’s true. With each passing year, I’ve discovered more wrinkles and grey hairs (gasp!). Alas, I am growing older.
The grey hairs didn’t start to go crazy until I hit 35. It’s like it all went down hill from there. Now, they are this huge mass in the center of the top of my head. I do pull them when they start going all wonky. It’s bad enough that I have crazy curly hair that likes to frizz. Adding in the wonky grey hairs just makes matters worse. I’ve considered dyeing them, but that would just add an entirely new realm of annoying.
I blame the grey hairs not really on my ever-returning birthdays but instead on my children — who make me crazy. In a good way. I promise.
In all my life, I have never been as tired, cranky, or absentminded as I have been since having multiple children. (It’s the reason I named the blog what I named it — I had to give myself some sort of way to feel better about the situation!)
That’s why, when I read Anne K. Bardsley’s How I Earned my Wrinkles: Musings on Marriage, Motherhood, and Menopause, I felt so relieved! Bardsley, who has five children to provide those hard-earned wrinkles, provides so many stories about how her husband and children have driven her to seek out a place of “refuge” safely housed in her own mind.
There was a glimpse into my future (my children are currently 9, 3, and 1) when Bardsley told the story of her daughter skipping school without realizing that her parents totally knew. Then dad and his friend “stole” her car that wasn’t at school. The way Bardsley described her husband and his friend’s plotting to teach her daughter a lesson was hilarious.
They drove to the house where the girls were probably enjoying skipping school. Quietly, Tom started Erika’s car and drove off. Scott followed behind him, laughing to himself all the way back to the office.
As a mom who tries to hold things together and really only looks organized to the outside world, Bardsley’s collection of stories helped me feel connected to all the other moms (and dads) out there battling the same no-time-too-many-dust-bunnies monster.
If you’re looking for a great read that will have you chuckling while realizing how lucky you really are to have someone to give you your grey hairs and wrinkles, be sure to pick up a copy of Anne K. Bardsley’s book. You can find http://sargeantstudios.net/?p=75 How I Earned my Wrinkles on Amazon.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Awesome review, Lydia! Thank you so much for hosting Anne! 🙂
Thanks for giving me the chance!
Lydia,
Thanks so much for your kind review. I really do miss those days now. I can’t possibly go back looking like I do now. I’d be the only wrinkled mom picking up my kindergartender in a walker!!
Hang in there with your kiddies. You blink and they’re graduating! Call me if you need back-up help during the teen years. You might want to put me on speed dial if your kids turn out like mine!!
Thanks again,
Anne Bardsley
I am most honored to review your book! So excited that I had a chance to read it.
And I might take you up on the speed dial!
I’ve got this one on my list of books to read. I’m excited to see more!!
This looks like a book that I need to read .
Sounds like a book I need to read!! My kids are 12 and under, and I feel like I might not make it to their teen years!
OMGosh that is too funny. My kids, bless their hearts, might as well paint those wrinkles right on my. It is so good to find so humor and we aren’t alone.