I chuckled when I read the list of topics for blogging in February. I'm sure you all know why. I mean, Spunky Old Broads? We all know I resemble that remark.
So tell me, when did we start admiring older women? I think it began in childhood with grandma. Remember those aprons, those enveloping hugs and sugary treats? And wasn't it the neatest thing when Grandma told our parents to stop scolding us? We were just being children, after all.
Those Mother Goose rhymes further reinforced the fact that old women were good, entertaining and full of love. When other adults were too busy to read to us or hear our silly jokes, older women had the time to devote to us.
When Mom declared fast food was unhealthy, cute old ladies campaigned for more meat in our sandwiches. Fact was, the more seasoned ladies were never happy until our tummies were full.
When we hit our teenaged years and looked at our parents with disdain, who did we look to for role models? That's right! Spunky old broads. They taught us it was right and good to be our own person. That marching to the beat of a drum was passe, but to dance to the beat of our internal flutes was a groovey way to inner happiness. "Don't be a cookie cutter," they instructed.
Perhaps that's why Maxine is so popular. Is she not the epitome of we older women? Sassy. Outspoken. Ballsy.
And who doesn't love Betty White, spunky old broad that she is? She's an advocate for humane animal treatment, and for that she has my gratitude. Still, old women are more than warm cookies and smiles. Try crossing one once, and see what happens...
I'm telling you, it's not a pretty sight.
I'll be 64 in May, easing into that old broad status. "When I am old, I shall wear a purple dress and red hat, which doesn't go..."
Vonnie Davis is author of Storm's Interlude, a contemporary romance set in the hill country of Texas, available now from The Wild Rose Press and Amazon. Her novella, Those Violet Eyes, is part of the Honky Tonk Heart series and will be released June 25th. A romantic suspense set in Paris, Mona Lisa's Room, will be released this year also with the Wild Rose Press.
