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								| An assurance comes with aging.Habits long used for safety
 slowly slip away,
 some by decision,
 some by accident.
 A freedom comes
 with letting go what
 is not important anymore.
 
 I have given up permanents,
 high heels, skirts, mascara,
 even lipstick and rouge,
 face cream and girdles.
 I have given up diets,
 feeling guilty, and shame.
 Also excuses, and
 for the most part, judgement.
 I do not ask for explanation
 so often anymore.
 I say, "It doesn't matter."
 
 
 From All That Matters (2018).
 Used here with permission.
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 Peggy Trojan, after a career of teaching English, retired to the north woods of Wisconsin. There, she and her husband, David, with the help of family, built a house next to a trout stream. Peggy stays busy writing and making jam from the raspberry patch she carefully and lovingly tends. Peggy is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, and is the author of two full-length poetry collections and six chapbooks. Learn more about her here.
 
 
																	
							
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											| Anastasia: Mascara is still important, but the rest of it has happily faded from my days!
 Posted 03/15/2024 10:10 AM
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											| Lori Levy: Like your list of things to give up in maturity.
 Posted 03/13/2024 12:52 PM
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											| Judy: I am a fan, Peggy--goodbye mascara!
 Posted 03/13/2024 11:17 AM
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											| peggy.turnbull: Maturity has its compensations, as Peggy succinctly points out.
 Posted 03/13/2024 11:16 AM
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											| Tom Sharpe: Never cared for lipstick, doesnt clean off shirt collars well.
 Posted 03/13/2024 10:18 AM
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											| Janice Galt: So true! And the increasing gratitude for the gift of life itself. Thank you, Peggy, though I still use lipstick!
 Posted 03/13/2024 09:06 AM
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