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What Holly Robinson Peete’s Mother Getting Tattooed At 82 Is Teaching Us About Embracing Life

If you're a millennial complaining about "getting old," with all due respect, get over yourself, and get into Miss Dolores Robinson.

Just last week, actress Holly Robinson Peete stopped by the Steve Harvey Show and revealed that her 82-year-old mother, Dolores, has been living her best life since the 70's. And when we say seventies, we don't mean the funkadelic era of James Brown and Boosty Collin — we mean the age.

According to her daughter Holly, not only has her mother been getting tattoos since 75 years old, Dolores even rocks a #GrampStamp (aka a "Grandma Tramp Stamp"), with her first tattoo experience being with her grandchildren:

Needless to say, Mama Robinson is living her best life. Holly told Steve:

"She's doing the most! She's got about seven [tattoos]. It started when she was 75, she said 'I wanna get a tattoo and I'm going to get one every year.' And now she's 81, so you do the math. And not just some little small one, but like, you know, a 'gramp' stamp!"

The former Hanging With Mr. Cooper actress went on to detail her mother's fearless approach to life, deeming Dolores an enthusiast of aging:

"I love her. My mom has embraced life, she is not age-phobic. She is the opposite of that. She'll tell you she's '81 and cute!'"
"But she is [81]. So I'm trying to get her to slow down. I'm trying to get her to wear one of those medical alert bracelets and necklaces."

One look at Dolores' social media, and you'll see that a medical ID bracelet is nowhere in her near future. The grandmother of four is not only present in the lives of her grandkids, she is also active as a companion to them too. Dolores enjoys dying her hair, body paint, and the occasional flirt-alert too.

#CougarGameStrong

What I admire most about Miss Dolores is that she doesn't view getting older as a dreadful graduation from youth, but rather, a celebration of more life. She is not simply surviving her last days on earth, so much as she is thriving in them. Not to mention, Dolores makes every woman complaining about their thirties look like toddlers throwing a #TerribleThirties tantrum.

Hearing Dolores' beautiful story couldn't have come at a better time. Today marks the one year anniversary since the death of one of my best friends. She was only 35. My friend passed away days before her birthday, and hours after we finished celebrating its forthcoming.

Before my friend's tragic death, I recall a time when I'd validate my age with my accomplishments, measuring my life's value to my successes — majority of which were career-oriented. But as I soon learned, "You can't kill yourself over a job that if you dropped dead, would replace you by the next shift."

These days, I measure the value of life simply off the fact that I am alive.

What's so dope about Dolores is that she is defying the limitations of ageism. In life, you may be "too young" to do some things, but you're never too old to do anything your body, mind, and heart is willing and able to do.

Health really is the ultimate wealth, and time truly is of the essence. If there is one thing we can take away from Mama Dolores is that you can't live your life to the fullest if your fear of it being over, takes over you.

Check out what else Holly had to say about her incredible mother in the video below.