mary

I go to the public swimming pool once a week. as part of my job (working with special ed kids). A few weeks ago, I met a gal named Mary in the locker room! I liked her immediately. She was spry. She was witty. She was sharp as a tack. And she is probably around 85 years old, give or take a few years! We chatted and laughed like old friends. I saw Mary again this week and I still can't get the image of her out of my head.  She stood there, next to me, completely naked, just chatting up a storm, meticulously drying herself off. She laughed as she did, saying, "my skin is too big for my body now!" A huge smile in her voice and on her face. You see, I was trying hard to look at her face, not at the naked body beside me! But, part of me just wanted so badly to look at her body, to get a glimpse of what I might look like in 40 some years! I've never really seen a naked 80 year old, so I was curious! I finally lowered my eyes to take it all in and all I could think was "Man, I hope I look like that when I'm her age!" I think what I was actually thinking was "God, I hope I live to be her age and have the kind of confidence she has!" I mean, I still drape a towel modestly around myself when I dry off in an all-women's locker room and here she was, just letting it all hang out! And I do mean "letting it all hang out"!!

Standing there, talking with Mary and trying not to gawk, I realized something. I realized that we women spend our whole lives, not to mention our hard earned money to look good, to appear younger and to stay in shape...but, someday, we will be Mary's age and what will it really matter? Will it really matter that we gave up carbs for months on end only to end up gaining all the weight back anyway?Or deprived ourselves of delicious treats just to fit into a bikini for that vacation? Will it matter that we did or didn't get that boob job? Or Botox? Probably not. The point is that we are so hard on ourselves, constantly striving for that perfect ideal, that fountain of youth that we fail to realize that real beauty lies in a life well lived. A body that has withstood all of life's battles and storms and is still standing. A face that reveals a joyous, happy life, complete with the smile lines to prove that you laughed a lot! I honestly had never seen anything quite as beautiful as what I saw in Mary that day.

"Real beauty isn't about symmetry or weight or make up, it's about looking life right in the face and seeing all of its magnificence reflected in your own. " -Valerie Malone