Things they do

Until you're old, you don't know that being young is like having money in the bank. Growing old adds to the deficit, especially for women; even those of us who haven't necessarily gotten far on their looks.
I don't know how else to say that. But, aging is the one thing that kind of binds us all, whether we were aware of our impact or just rolling along, regardless of the intent or effort, when we cross a certain threshold it becomes acute.
Eamon, Jack and I watched Joan Rivers a Piece of Work a few nights ago. And it was hard for me to get past the artificial and really grotesque appearance of what used to be a relatively normal looking person, but once I did, and this is where it gets strange, I felt an enormous amount of compassion for her and I guess any women who think they have to be louder, funnier and first to deprecate themselves in order to prevent it from coming from someone else, or at least to preempt it and give someone more of an obvious reason for any comment or action.