Wellesley mom discovers completely natural alternative to Botox

I find digging in the soil simply invigorating. Turns out it can be good for you, too, especially if you are of a certain age.

Now, I'm likely to be classified as a senior, if you check my extensive vet records. I'm a little gray around the eyes and the hair around my scar, where I was viciously attacked last fall, has grown in white.

Mom's not yet a senior, officially anyway. But those worry lines have started to cut a little deeper, so she wasn't entirely unhappy (or maybe that's just the Benadryl talking)  to be viciously attacked by a swarm of black flies.

Having heard that bee stings can help relieve arthritis symptoms, she can now attest to the benefits of black fly bites. Black flies naturally bite around the head and neck. Thinking they were merely annoying pests, she waved them away as she attempted to weed the garden. Dad's reaction to her bloody, swollen forehead prompting just a modicum of alarm, she checked the mirror. Then, being the researcher that she is, she checked Purdue University's Medical Entomology page on black flies.

The info told her that the giant swellings were normal, but nowhere was it documented that said swellings also provide some relief from those horrid worry lines that Grandma always warned about: "Someday, your face is going to freeze that way, and you'll be sorry!"

Mom, Day 2, in transition from E.T. to wrinkle-free. Visible bite wound.

The process, however, takes a few days for optimal effect. On Day 1, Mom was fit for an E.T. lookalike contest with a giant protuberance in the middle of her forehead, not unlike some kind of dinosaur. Day 2, the swelling had gone all the way across the forehead, not as visible, but giving a stretched, tight feeling. Dad advises Mom not to do any frowning. Day 3: swelling descends toward the eyelids, plumping them up and giving them a bit of a downward cast. The upside: no frown lines in between the eyebrows.

I haven't been attacked yet, but as Mom does all the worrying in the family, I haven't got any wrinkles at all.