Alison M. Gunn

Hi there! I started a new blog for women (and men who don't mind discussions about clothes and my quest for the perfect jar of anti-aging goo), called The Blue Plate Special. The idea was to discuss, from my whiney, complaining perspective, the ways in which aging is affecting me (mostly negatively, but not without a sense of humor).

Now, originally, I am from New Jersey. When I was little, all my great-aunts helped raise me, so I am a concoction of theirs, and none of them spoke English clearly. In addition, they all shrieked a lot, and I remember a lot of complaining, so there you go. I am genetically programmed to complain.

The point is, I was raised by women, all of whom had a response (usually negative) to getting old. The general 'wisdom' in my family was that growing old was one of those things life imposes on you that you don't have to endure silently, but then, the women in my family felt that way about almost everything.

In spite of how important women in my family were to me, my relationship with my mother was not good. In fact, it's because my relationship with my mother wasn't good that I spent so much time with the rest of my family when I was little, since she was working and wasn't around.

My father came and went, and then went permanently, and then "we got a new father", and then we all moved overseas. I have moved 37 times, and even now, my boxes are packed in anticipation of moving again. I don't know where I'm going, precisely, but I'm ready just in case.

When my mother died last year, I started talking to myself (others call it 'muttering' or 'schizophrenia') about all of the things I'm writing about now: aging, resentment, women, my family, being a mother, face cream, the need to travel to get away from the aforementioned issues—elements of my life I previously discounted, that have now taken on a life of their own.

My mother used to say to strangers who looked after me, "If she gets to be a pain in the ass, just smack her." She thought it was funny... but you get the idea. I might say things that convince you that I am a pain in the ass. I like to think of it as "honesty," but then, I never have known when to keep my mouth shut.

Take a look here to see other online articles I have written recently.