Freckles and Eye Crinkles

A very talented friend emailed me these pictures of myself.  An avid hobbyist in photography for years, she is taking lessons and used the bottom photo, from my bio in The Magazine of Yoga, to work on "highlights, shading and tonal balance."

I must admit I spent more than a second analyzing the apparent differences. My first impulse was, "Are you implying I don't look good enough?"  Shamed to deny momentarily, my long-held belief that women should not buy into media's vision or version of themselves (surely not the intent of my friend's exercise in photography). 

Which got me to thinking about the conversation with my mother-in-law the other day. She commented that she never really appreciated how she looked, until she looked back. Even the most enlightened obsess and ruminate at one time or another over appearances. We may not think we look our best in our twenties, thirties, forties... But, when we look back at old pictures we are generally surprised at our beautiful, glowing selves, as though we were meeting for the first time.

I guess the lesson here is to love who we are in the present. I like the me on the bottom. Without the shading and highlights, I can appreciate every freckle and eye crinkle I've earned on my face!