{"id":47925,"date":"2026-01-31T00:01:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T08:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=47925"},"modified":"2026-06-04T09:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:34:35","slug":"maybe-i-want-a-facelift-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/maybe-i-want-a-facelift-after-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Maybe I Want a Facelift After All"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"wind0w-with-houseplants\"<\/a>
The light came in on a low angle, casting a sideways light on the room and everything in it. I thought, maybe I want a facelift after all. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I got up a little earlier than usual the other day and got some news: I look my age.<\/p>\n

I didn’t know this.<\/p>\n

It was early in the day and the winter sun was shining in through the bathroom window at a lower angle than I was used to. The light was coming at my face from the side, casting shadows on my cheeks. Deep shadows.<\/p>\n

What I had thought was a pretty good, not-terribly-old-looking face actually had wrinkles. Long, deep, no-nonsense wrinkles running up and down my cheeks like earthquake faults.<\/p>\n

Oh, my gosh. I had no idea I was this old. My creaky joints had been delivering the news to me quietly for years. But I’d kept that information to myself, hoping to pass as a sixty- or seventy-something jock who could Spin and Zumba with the fifty-somethings.<\/p>\n

But now, looking into the mirror at my early morning self, I saw that, unbeknownst to me, my face had been telling the world exactly how old I was. Which is old, 84 to be exact.<\/p>\n

Maybe I Want a Facelift After All<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I don’t believe in silicon breast implants or facelifts that leave your cheeks looking like you’re facing into 100-mph headwinds. No. Not for me. I stand by the natural, hippie aesthetic I embraced when I came to San Francisco as a twenty-something decades ago.<\/p>\n

Yes. I wore padded bras as a teenager, and in my forties I let my hairdresser color — OK, dye — my gray hairs. But I always drew the line at facelifts. It was a red line.<\/p>\n

Was.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More on the natural look at\u00a0 “Tint My Eyebrows? It’s an Existential Question.”<\/a>\u00a0 For a glimpse of the teenaged me in that padded bra, go to “Half a Century Later, I’m Still a Size 10 . . . OK, 12”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Note to readers.<\/strong> As promised, I’ve switched from a once-a-week to a once-a-month posting schedule. Subscribers will get my emailed updates on the first Sunday of the month. (If you’re not already a subscriber, you can get links to my Riffs on Life via email. Look for the fat, orange sign-up button.)<\/p>\n

Also, don’t forget, if you enjoy one of my posts, you can share it with friends. It’s easy. Simply click on one of the icons below. It will connect you to Facebook, X\/Twitter, LinkedIn, or email.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I’m using that extra time to work on my book projects, including one that asks, can a woman have it all — career and<\/em> husband and<\/em> children? (The answer is yes, sorta.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"window-with-houseplants\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Facelifts that leave your cheeks looking like you’re facing into 100-mph headwinds are not for me. Or are they?\u00a0 Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,226],"tags":[103,3087,34,3088,266,82],"class_list":["post-47925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","category-older-and-older","tag-aging","tag-cosmetic-surgery","tag-dont-miss","tag-facelifts","tag-getting-older","tag-on-the-funny-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48402,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47925\/revisions\/48402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}