I love the idea of aging gracefully.  In my mind, age is something to be proud of.  So many people, particularly women, show such shame in their age.  But in all honesty, shouldn’t we all be happy that we get to enjoy as much time as possible in our lives?  I certainly wouldn’t wish away decades of a great life just so I would die beautiful.

Where I’m headed with this is…Meg Ryan.  I love Meg Ryan because I love (most) chick flicks.  You’ve Got Mail, while painfully predictable, is a great movie and every time I see it on cable I stop to watch it.

What I have loved the most of about Meg Ryan is that, in addition to her endlessly bubbly personality in all the characters she plays, she was aging gracefully.  She was clearly getting older, but not in a “Wow, she looks old” way but in a “How refreshing she isn’t trying to hide her age” way.  And the most important thing to note was that she looked GREAT! 

This is the Meg Ryan I loved:

This is the Meg Ryan that has replaced her:

I’m not sure what you do to make your face look like this Meg, but whatever it was it had to be painful.  It looks like it must hurt to even talk or chew.  I think when they did your face lift/botox/laser treatment they gave you a perma-smile to go along with it.  It doesn’t look like that smile will even move.  There must have been a lip injection done too.  Which maybe wouldn’t be so obvious or look so bad if it wasn’t surrounded by spandex-skin.

I know that plastic surgery in Hollywood has become common place.  What am I saying – plastic surgery in general has become common place.  But I always took solace in the fact that there are still some people out there who are OK with their age – and there still are, of course.  I used to think Meg Ryan was one of them.  So much for that. 

Now I can’t even watch her movies.  My skin hurts at the sight of her.