The fountain of youth

I'm just going to be honest and up front with you about something right now: Karl and I watched Real Housewives of Vancouver last night.

It wasn't planned; it was really quite random. Very rarely will you find me flipping through the channels just to see what's on. Our PVR saves that hassle. Well, last night after a couple riveting episodes of 16 and Pregnant I was about to head to bed and Karl was just perusing when there it was. Real Housewives of Vancouver. So we took the plunge.

The episode was half over and it appeared we'd missed some cattiness already but that was fine, I just wanted to see Vancouver. I was shocked by what I saw on the show. It was the thirtieth birthday of one of the wives. We were flabbergasted. I've still got a long way to go until I'm 30 but I know lots of people in or around that age. Karl said it must be a joke and that it was actually her 40th; nothing else made sense. There she was with her stereotypical gay BFF getting botox from your friendly at home delivery dentist, gushing about how much she adores botox. At 30? I guess she has a couple kids but I can't imagine needing that much work done at 30.

The thing was, you could tell she'd obviously had botox before as well as some other improvements. She had those big, juicy lips that look kind of raw and painful (as someone who has both sunburnt her lips and discovered an allergy to lipwear products, I know how horrible that is). It got me to thinking. All the tricks she was using to make herself look youthful were actually having a negative effect. Aside from her admittedly enviable legs and enhanced chest she looked exactly like the other forty-something housewives.

I'm just going to say it, although the 30 year olds in my life aren't made up to the nines I still think they rock the youth in the natural way so much better. I'm not saying that because I'm a feminist or anything, either, or touting women's natural beauty above all else. It just rings true. If you look at promotional photos from the show showing the five women standing together I dare you to pick out a 30 year old in their midst. Sure, she make look a little younger than the rest but 30? Really?