Thank you for the article, the reflections, and honesty. It made me think of something I have been struggling with it lately: the challenges of growing old. I was always considered as beautiful as a teenager and a young adult. Although I never leveraged on that as your model friend, I never had problems getting the men I wanted or faced any issues with my looks or anything. Good looks help with confidence, entitlement and a sense of belonging. In a way, my attitude was closer to that of your Swedish friend. However, as I grow old these "pretty" traces start disappearing, and I am faced with what "being ordinary" means. Some days I feel I didn't take advantage enough of what I had, other days I feel bad about myself and my looks: something I had never felt before. I see the decline so vividly, the idea of "growing old" has an extra cross to bear. Although a natural process, it is much devastating. Anyway, we go on and live one day at a time.