Dear Queenie,
My mother was simply beautiful when she was young, but now she’s going on 90 and she looks her age.
She loves to go through her old photo albums with all the pictures of her when she was young, but what do I say to her when she shows them to me?
Queenie, it seems mean to say how beautiful she used to be, implying that she isn’t anymore.—Loving daughter
Dear Loving daughter,
Since when does “old” automatically equal “unbeautiful”? Furthermore, your mother, unless she is blind, sees herself in the mirror every day and knows exactly what she looks like now.
I understand that some people do not age as well as others, but then, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Surely you can find something complimentary to say about the way she looks now, even if it is along the lines of (she being almost 90) “You do not look a day over 70.”
