Charlotte Latvala: Recognize people change as they age

You’re standing in line at the grocery store minding your own business when the tabloids start shouting at you.

“Winona Ryder Is Unrecognizable!” screams the headline. “You won’t believe the changes!” (Just in case you don’t understand what the word unrecognizable means.)

“Oh, I bet I will,” I grumble back. (Under my breath so the woman running the register doesn’t think I’m batty. Although I’m sure she’s heard and seen much worse.) “Winona Ryder is a 50-something woman, for crying out loud.”

Everyone these days is “unrecognizable.” Or so the internet and the tabloids tell us. It’s not just Winona. It’s Macaulay Culkin. Meg Ryan. Any number of celebrities who became famous as young or youngish people.

The phrase has become the buzzword du jour. “So-and-so is unrecognizable” and “stars you won’t recognize” must trend even better than “Harry and Meghan.” (Who, by the way, are still recognizable.)

Guess who else is unrecognizable when compared to their teenage or 20-something selves?

I’ll give you a hint: Everyone.

You don’t need to be a Hollywood star to suffer the slings and arrows of age. Even without massive amounts of plastic surgery and Botox, people naturally look different as they age. They evolve into older, more distinct versions of themselves. Not necessarily worse … just different.

As a side note, my thinking on plastic surgery is: If you can afford it, and you want it, go for it. Who is anyone else to judge? Although cosmetic procedures do often render people … well, if not unrecognizable, at least looking like weirdly put together versions of themselves. And I have a special fondness for British actresses (e.g., Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench) who seem to have aged naturally, with complete use of their expressive faces. (If you want to see a beautiful example of this, start following singer Annie Lennox on social media.)

Anyway.

I’ve been going through boxes of old family photos recently and came across plenty of unrecognizable people.

My parents, slim and baby-faced, standing in front of a huge 1940s roadster and bearing scant resemblance to the middle-aged people from my childhood.

My siblings posed in front of the Christmas tree, circa late 1950s — the boys with crew cuts and my sister in a flouncy dress with layers of stiff taffeta.

Me, wearing a halter top and painter’s pants, my hair glowing a shade of blond it hasn’t been since 1979, when the merest touch of a sunbeam turned it golden.

Compared to 2023 me, 30 pounds heavier, dishwater hair streaked with gray? A woman who is more likely to wear a Wonder Woman costume in public than a halter top?

Yep, I’m unrecognizable.

It’s OK.

We all get older. We all look older. Eat healthy and stay active and get outside now and then, and God willing, you’ll be an unrecognizable 90-year-old one day.

Say hi if you see me out walking. But since you won’t recognize me, it’ll be OK if you don’t.

Charlotte is a columnist for The Times. You can reach her at charlottelatvala@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Latvala: Recognize people change as they age