Is it in my genes?

So I've been blogging a food diary. You may have seen it. It's pretty boring. Looking through it, I can see how unmotivated I am. I'm a lazy person. Sure, it shows a lot of long walks, but not having a car and hating the bus mean that I walk everywhere. I saunter, I take my time. I used to speed walk everywhere. I used to go to the gym 3-5 days a week. Now I'm happy if I get to pee by myself at least once a day.

Everyone who sees a picture of my mother or meets her for the first time comments on how she looks so young. How she can't possibly be the mother of 4. How she must have had us when she was just a baby herself.

Yes, she looks fantastic. She's healthy and full of life. When I look at pictures of her from my childhood, she looks older somehow. But, the hairstyles and clothing from the 70s and 80s weren't that flattering, so maybe that contributes to the difference I see in the pictures? Or maybe having 3 kids so close together aged her quickly. Add in the 4th, years down the road, and it can put a lot of stress on you.

But she has time for herself now. My youngest brother heads off to university next week. In the last decade, my mom has turned back the hands of time. Maybe this means that I have good genes on my side and just need to push through these current years and will look my best once we start to slide into that empty nest area?? It's depressing to think it may be another 10 years before I start to like the person in the mirror again.