Fashion Grandma- this may alarm you!

O.K. Folks,  I am going to give it to you straight about getting elderly/fashion.
To begin with, I always loved my work for many reasons, and one of them was that I never had to "dress for success". As a teacher in a funky and wonderful private school, our uniform was jeans and shorts, It was hot and we had to be on the floor with kids and be prepared at any moment to go out and watch birds or cast seine nets in the Gulf of Mexico. We needed to squat in the dust to observe ant lions.

On some occasions, of course, we teachers had to dust off the heels and find a dress, but that was rare.

So, now, retired grandma that I am, I look back with horror at the many ceremonial things I did with my spouse, sartorially speaking. We went to many countries and were required to dress for appointments and banquets with the powerful and rich.

This was ultimately very fascinating, but there was always the undercurrent of "what will I wear?"
Inevitably, there would always be some women on the trips who brought their own hairdressers! Yikes!  How to tame my curly hair?

Those day of fashion anxiety are over, thank god.

So, here I am, seventy-three years old, and still! I sometimes worry about the fashion issues. I am doing as a volunteer pretty much what I did before I retired. So, when I appear at my school I am wearing my regular uniform of shorts or jeans. (I need to be able to sweat in the school garden!)
I see some of the teachers there in high heels and tight skirts and wonder how they manage.
So, still, I am left in the dust!

The third toe on my right foot is bleeding because I cut the toenail too short. My fingernails are permanently embedded with garden grit. All my skin, wrinkled as it is, is too brown from the sun.
I read the New York Times Style section and find out about the latest things for beauty, and of course I want to be beautiful too. I am not sure I am up for spending $5000 on wrinkle removal or liposuction or whatever.

My major beauty routine is scrubbing my feet under the outdoor shower several times a day.
For the last several years I have thought that I would do better to wear elbow length tee shirts to cover as much of my wrinkly arms as possible and still be able to function.
No more! I am fit and trim, no baggy under arms, tight thighs. So I am wrinkled and it is my right at my age.

I stride forth to my Tai Chi class with bare toes and tank top and I am confident. It's not about pedicures and the perfect toned skin.

Still, I have such admiration for many women my age who seem so confident in their style.
It's the beginning of summer, so I went out and bought three new pairs of shorts that will last a couple of seasons.  Those, and the new plain black bamboo dress, will take me through just about anything.