In 2015 I saw The Age of Adaline, starring Blake Lively. In the movie, she miraculously remains a youthful 29 years of age for nearly eight decades, never allowing herself to get close to anyone least they discover her secret. I remember wanting to see this movie the moment the trailer flashed across my TV screen. I love Blake Lively and I love the idea of never getting older, albeit there would mostly likely be some adverse consequences, as in the movie.
The film came to mind after I watched the fourth episode of Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living called the Triangle wherein I play Anastasia Devereaux, a character who would love to have Blake Lively’s problem in The Age of Adaline. Anastasia is an aging starlet who longs for the attention of strangers. And when she moves into Pleasant Days, her wish is fulfilled. Two gentlemen, Vincent, wonderfully played by J. Anthony Brown, and Reginald, masterfully played by Damien Leake, are vying for her affection. So starved for attention, Anastasia leads both men to believe she’s interested, resulting in the men almost going to blows.
Cora, played by the music icon, Tamala Mann, and Leah, played by the talented Courtney Nichole, intervene and subsequently talk to Anastasia about the situation. It’s at this time that Anastasia reveals her struggle with the aging process. Although she’s in her late seventies, Inside she feels twenty-three, making it very difficult for her to reconcile how she feels with how she looks. So when the men notice her, she loses all perspective.
Unfortunately, Anastasia is not unique. I myself have struggled with getting older, but I remind myself what the alternative would be. Someone once said, die young and leave a petty corpse. I’d rather live the life God has given me until he calls me home even if it means leaving an ugly corpse.
We live in a world that celebrates youth and disdains the elderly. So it’s no wonder very few people over a certain age look forward to another birthday. You never hear a forty year old declare, “I’m 40 and a half!” And because being young is EVERYTHING in our society, we do EVERYTHING possible to maintain our youth, including going under the knife. Personally, I’m too chicken to risk possibly being that person whose surgery goes awry, so I resort to moisturizers and drinking tons of water. However, that’s not the case for a lot of us. Americans spent over $9 billion on plastic surgery in 2020 and over $93 billion on beauty and personal care products. Just imagine what could be done with that kind of money—maybe end world hunger?
Perhaps one day we’ll all learn to age gracefully or maybe one day someone will find the Fountain of Youth or discover a pill that reverses aging. That reminds of another movie – The Mysterious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt. He starts out as an elderly man and he ages in reverse.
How do you feel? Do you feel younger than you look? If there was a pill you could take to stop aging or reverse aging would you take it? Leave a comment and let me know. Love to hear from you.
Thank you for writing this post, The Age of Anastasia. It is very telling as to how our society worships and promotes youth and beauty. I would only take a pill if it provided me with 100 percent good health. By the way, have you seen the l945 Dorian Gay movie? I remember seeing it on TV, which focuses on a man selling his soul to stay young.