Back fat and flank hair

 

Back fat and flank hair





    We often referred to our tender bodies as our machines and discussed the inability to stop father time from ravaging our mortal shells. As boys we could not wait until we had wispy mustaches, baritones, man-size shoes and the coveted pubic bush. We tried to emulate men and took up smoking or choked down any number of potions that signified maturity. I was asked for ID when I was thirty so as a late bloomer I thought I would not age like everyone else. Hoo boy! Greg was a hairy teen and those sideburns he was so proud of took shape in high school. His voice took a while to lower but soon he sang like Gordon MacRae and not Shirley Jones. Our drug and alcohol soaked brains sat up top of our machines  and watched the body human submit to gravity plus the poisons we breathed or ingested in our clueless trip through our 20's. We thought nothing of eating greasy fast food after 1 am and sometimes experimented with drugs that could have caused permanet damage. Maybe they did? As we did age we started to notice some trends. The scrawny pre-pubescent bodies thickened and sank. The beards we so longed for became a nuisance and bellies bulged where we once were trim as an eagle's talon. By the time we zoomed past 50 we had our stages of life mapped out and saw we had no control over most of the transmogrification of the flesh. Greg called me and left a phone message suggesting I give him "Top Coverage" for Christmas as he had discovered the bald spot forming atop his pate. Cousin Kent who once had a widows peak watched as it became an island in the stream and my waist 28" button-fly 501 levis became 38 loose fit because of expansion. First the beard went salt and pepper, then gray, then fucking Santa Claus white. Most of the fellas were balding and thought sans-a-belt slacks were a good idea. Back to the tape title which comes from early recognitions of the phases of aging. Back fat and flank hair were early but unavoidable. Head and back enlargement  was quite common in both men and women. Complete face and chin collapse was next on the damn docket. Unfortunately there will be more later including aches, pains, gas and diseases that come and stay. For christ's sake.

                               


   


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