It's a part of nature. The red breasts of female robins aren't really red at all. Human mothers fade, too. Exhaustion dulls our skin. Gray strips shine from our hair.
Curves get too soft or too angular.
We lose power, too. In the 10 years she's worked there, she has continually missed out on promotions she would have easily gotten had she worked full time. All of her job changes have been lateral. Those of us who stay home with our children are infantilized. We'd both worked before we had our babies, but decided, since we could afford it, to stay home with our kids.