As we age, life's possibilities slip away from us.

When I turned twenty I realized I would never become a teenage science fiction pro like Isaac Asimov. When I took up running at forty and labored to finish a mile in under eight minutes I guessed I had long since missed my chance to be the second coming of Roger Bannister.

Today I learned I can never be Kate Moss. At least not to the extent that she's done runway modeling.

True, I am the wrong sex, and not very pretty, but then again, we can dream. Not that I ever dreamed of being a runway model. To tell the truth I never gave it a thought until today. But you know how it is, as soon as we are denied a thing...

Just now I read in an article in Slate that the Council of Fashion Designers of America is issuing guidelines meant to discourage clothes hangers from being clothes hangers. The guidelines will not be as Draconian as those announced by fashion show organizers in Milan and Madrid which banned models who have a body mass index less than 18, for health reasons. As Slate explained:

Many people are predisposed to be thin, but if a model has a BMI of below 18-the threshold used in Madrid-she is almost certainly practicing unhealthy habits, such as restricting food intake or over exercising. Someone who's 5-foot-11, like most female models, would have to weigh less than 130 pounds to fall short of the threshold. To get to that point, even a natural waif would likely have to skip meals, exercise too much, or use diet aids.

I hate to disagree with the experts but I've met the height and weight requirements (if nothing else) to be a perfect (and now banned) runway model since I was sixteen without ever limiting my food intake, over exercising, using diet aids or any other unhealthy practices. For most of my life I've tried to gain weight and never once managed to reach 130 pounds.

Ah well, if I can't be Kate Moss maybe I can still be Joyce Carole Oates.