Bare. Unashamed. Loved.

I don't know about you but I am very guilty of only wanting to post the best pictures of myself.  Whether it's facebook or here on this blog I want to make sure I don't have the double chin that often shows up in photos or the teeth that look buck from certain angles. And I don't mean Lil' C-style awesome! I never post pictures taken when I'm not wearing makeup.  On my no-makeup days my eyebrows look pretty sparse and sometimes one or two eyebrow hairs will stick out in a random direction even if my face has been washed.  Who am I kidding? If I'm not wearing make-up I haven't washed my face either.  Plus I always think my nose looks really wide in pictures when I don't have makeup on.  If I was being really honest I would also admit there have been many times I've said, "Oh don't take my picture I'm not wearing any make-up today." 

A few days ago I came across a blog.  I can't tell you where because it was one of those things where I followed a link, then followed another link, then put my right arm in, then took my right arm out, then followed another link, then did the hokey-pokey and turned myself around.  So I have no idea how to find it again or who to credit it to. The point is, on this blog the woman was talking about the importance of being in pictures with your kids, that your children need to have this physical evidence of their connection with you.  When you look at photos of your own mom do you ever think she looks fat?  Do you ever think her hair looks bad or her face looks ugly?  No. She is your mom.  She is beautiful and radiant and just, your mom.

That post challenged me on so many levels.  As a mom trying to raise a daughter of inner beauty who is comfortable in her own skin I realized when I say no to being photographed without makeup on I'm essentially telling my daughter that beauty is only about the outside.  It also made me ask how comfortable I am in my own skin and whether I value the people in the photo with me or how I look in the photo. I'm not saying I'm giving up makeup entirely or that I will never ask Hugh to take another picture so I can stick my neck out better and avoid the double chin.  What I am saying is that I will live in and embrace the moment whether I'm bare-faced or made-up.  A book I am reading now talks about how it's not whether or not we'll live in the moment - now, this moment, is actually all we ever get - but how we will live in this moment.  The past when it happened was your present moment.  The future will only come as a now moment.  How will you live in the now?  One thing I will do with my "now" is whatever I can to strengthen my connection to my children and theirs to me.  And if that means buck teeth, double chins, wide noses, sparse eyebrows and dirty hair?  So be it.