Image and Beauty

Image-

At one point in my life, I lived and breathed by my Cover Girl compact, brush, lip gloss, and miniature purse size hair spray. Every opportunity to pass by a reflection had me adjusting my hair or smacking my lips together. Beauty was a superficial thing in my mind, yet so powerful that it had the ability to often consume me. I would spend a solid hour “primping” in the bathroom equipped with a hair dryer, and brush.. my hair needed to be “just so”, and when I say “Just so” I mean stiff as a board and HIGH.

In Junior High, a few key elements were imperative to reach the “beauty image” status and they included the following; tight horrible acid washed jeans, frosty lipstick, hard hair, frosty eyeshadow, large earrings, high waist-ed pants, short skirts, and of course, the need to be thin.

In High School, some of those key elements remained... The “thin” piece always seemed to be the most prominent, then the need to be tan came next. For whatever reason, Daytona girls loved to have bathing suit strap lines- If you were tan, but could not show a good “strap line” it was almost as if you failed the “tanning experience”.

As I look through old photos of junior high and high school I am amazed by the similarity of what girls go through now. Image is powerful. As I entered my mid twenties I did away with a compact, I discovered I no longer wanted to see myself that close up. I retired hair spray all together as I simply could not handle having hard hair anymore, and I learned that sunscreen was actually a good thing.

Now in the mid thirties, I giggle when I attempt to where nice large dangling earrings because my earlier years in junior high and high school have stretched my holes so much that I could probably get away with wearing plugs now. I still love “lip stuff”, but now it has taken on the “natural” look. I slather Spf 40 sunscreen on whenever I go outside, and sometimes I turn away when I look at my reflection. External beauty is fleeting, it will never stay. Some choose to have surgery and try to prolong their “beauty” and others decide that their beauty is within that makes their outward “image” shine.

Each decade we are forced to re-evaluate ourselves, and our bodies. We come to a point of learning what is important, what is needed, and what is beautiful. This year, I am looking forward to being the “most beautiful” woman I have ever been, because I am focusing on my inner self, my core. I will never again have skin that excitedly welcomes the Cover Girl Compact, or will I? Perhaps as my wrinkles set in around my mouth, I will embrace them and know that I have laughed many times... perhaps when I see the lines deepen around my eyes I will embrace them as I know I have been to many wondrous places, and squinted into the sunshine while looking over the seas... I will welcome the smiling my eyes have done when I watch someone I love succeed. Perhaps I will welcome my hands as they become less supple and show lines as I know that I have farmed some land, done hard laboring work, and played hard. Perhaps I will welcome my frame as I “fill” into a woman no longer in her teens and twenties, and welcome my hips, my legs, and my arms as they prepare to be a healthy mother some day. Most importantly, that my soul will be beautiful.

Then I will open my compact one day on my eightieth birthday and I will smile and love each new line, each new wrinkle, and age spot, and know that I have truly lived. Maybe I will even powder my nose and forehead and break out the hairspray again...Perhaps I will even be as beautiful as my sweet grandmother was, a wrinkled woman with a huge smile, a bit heafty (she could arm wrestle you), and full of life.