personal appearance is important to mother and alison.
both know how to throw an outfit together.
both know what looks good on them.
both know how to talk to hair dressers
and know their way around a makeup counter.
both are beautiful, beautiful women.
did it skip a generation?
that would be the easiest explanation.
but actually, there was a time when
i was pretty
when i threw together
strikingly novel
and interesting outfits
effortlessly.
but then responsibilities grew
while finances shrunk,
so i learned to
focus
on things other than my appearance.
i told myself
that being pretty was
superficial
and unimportant.
and that’s true
but
i still want to
lose weight
and feel
comfortable in the
beauty parlor
instead of feeling like
i should apologize
and explain my presence
and be grateful that the
hair dresser doesn’t
see my name on the book
and put a bag over her head.
i want to feel
pretty.
but there’s an important difference:
before,
i cared most
about what other people
thought about me,
felt like my appearance
defined me
and was the sum total
of what i had to offer.
now, though,
it’s, well,
it’s all about me.
i want to feel comfortable.
and confident.
i want to feel pretty –
not because of what others think,
but because i want to smile
when i see me.
and i’m finding that as i
make time to write,
as i dare to speak what’s
true to me,
the weight slowly
slides away
and regardless
of how my hair looks
or what i’m wearing
or whether i’m wearing makeup or not,
i begin to feel pretty
again.
Oh Jeanne – this so deeply echoes what is in my own heart these days. I hope you feel beautiful because you are, through and through, you are.
You are still as beautiful as you were when I met you almost 38 years ago.
Andy
What Alana said (and I’d agree with Andy too, ‘cept I didn’t know you 38 years ago)!!
Oh, honey, your beauty just radiates from your words. You are much more than pretty. You’re tapped into the source. You live and breathe Beauty.
Hugs and butterflies,
~T~
That’s where I’d like to end up too. So comfortable in my own skin that it no longer is thin to the judgements, opinions, comments of others. To just know I’m beautiful and therefore no longer needing to ever give it another thought. Beauty is so much more than looks. That’s where I want to end up – truly feeling that in every cell of my being.
You express my feelings so well …