I’m one of those people who showers in the dark – not pitch black, mind you, just off-site light filtering in from the hallway. Somehow, this tepid glow is enough to keep most of me in shadow so that I don’t have to address the sagging flesh and the web of wrinkles that repeated sun exposure has etched on my face. The mirror magnifies everything, my friends.

The pandemic shutdown seemed to hasten my droops and crow’s feet, the unruly gray hair that erratically began to escalate, and the defiant…