Blogging With Beth

I have this friend who is amazing in a thousand different ways. She is friendly, cheerful, intelligent, kind, and always doing loving and creative things for her children. Beyond that, she is gorgeous! No matter the occasion, she looks as though she stepped out of a magazine shoot, even after a workout or first thing in the morning. From every vantage point her life appears perfect.

Naturally, there is one vantage point that is invisible to me (or to the rest of the world): my friend's own, personal view. I don't believe she is unhappy, but like all of us, she has her own challenges, and some have been significant.

 At about this point in my reflections, I inevitably start comparing myself to this particular woman, and every other woman in my acquaintance. For some reason, though, this time I accepted the kind of gal I am - in a word, rumpled. Yes, rumpled! I don't spring out of bed with a smile on my face in the morning. Thanks to my lovely Mickey mirror (thanks, Dan!), I get to see the almost comic way my hair flips around when I wake up. After a workout, my hair is frizzy and my clothes are baggy and I am rank enough to turn heads. I am happy, comfortable, and ME when I am wearing a good pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, plus the Brooks running shoes that are a medical necessity these days. Even at those times when I am trying desperately to spiff it up a bit - weddings, church, family pictures - I can't quite get my hair to behave, or my clothes to lay smoothly and fit perfectly.

The "rumples" extend into my habits and behavior, too. I've tried meal planning, schedules, cleaning rotations, and 30 Day organization plans, pinned hundreds of fantastic ideas onto Pinterest, and made calendars and posters of varying cuteness. Unfortunately, life never cooperates with the above list, so the house gets cleaned (mostly) on a needs-based schedule, we eat when I think about cooking, and the pins are waiting patiently in cyberspace for my future use.

The good news is, I'm only three decades into this life. A little neurosis goes a long way, so I'm never fooled into thinking I'm too close to perfection. In fact, my own imperfections give me plenty of opportunities for both forgiveness and improvement.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller