“You Look 20 Years Younger”

Late last summer while walking I met a friend of mine (a fellow special-needs mom) standing outside her house.
She had been amazed at the change in me, and I encouraged her to get out and walk as well. But her children are younger than mine, and I doubted that she would actually do so. I was wrong. Last week I was out walking a bit later than usual, and I ran into this lady, as well as another young mother of a child with Down syndrome. They were obviously out “walking” together.
The first one said, “WOW, Rickismom you look great! You look 20 years younger!” Her companion quipped, “Nah—22 years younger….”
Then the first one told me that when she saw me out walking in August, it was like a “knock on the head” for her, and she has been walking almost every day since then. This pleased me even MORE than the compliments. To realize that I have helped make a positive change in a friend’s life and health is TREMENDOUS!!!!
PS I expected to look older as I lost weight (and I probably still will, with excess skin forming wrinkles), but I always said "I'd rather LOOK old than FEEL old." But in the meantime I guess my good health (and the choice* of more fashionable clothes)adds up to my looking younger, despite the wrinkles.

* Once I had to buy whatever I could find in my size. Now I can CHOOSE.