What is Real Beauty?

We celebrated my husbands big 5-Oh this past week. (He was a real good sport letting me take this picture of him with his new glasses.)   This new decade has caused us both to reflect on where we've been and where we're going.  Doing so we have decided to make some big changes.    

Up until now we have both felt invincible and that the end of our days wasn't even on the radar.  I still have 5 1/2 years to go until I reach this milestone, but being a woman in your 40's still makes you reflect on similar emotions.  One particular emotion that I have been struggling with, as I assume most women in their 40's do, is how your appearance starts changing.  Keeping that youthful look takes a lot more work and despite all your efforts, your skin and waistline have something different in mind.  In fact it made me start recognizing that almost Mom you see on television no matter the age, except for Roseanne, has a very nice figure.  On the flip side, you'll notice that most Dad's on these shows can't say the same.  Makes we wonder why it is okay for the men to show their years, especially in the middle section and not women.  Think about it, even Marge on the Simpson's has a smokin hot body while Homer... well that's a different story.  What's up with that?  I guess that's another topic for another post.  

Tonight I stopped by the blog Naked Girl in a Dress which put these concerns in perspective for me.  She shared a quote from Audrey Hepburn which really hit home.  I'm already a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, but I think this quote below makes me adore her even more.  I now have a new outlook on the meaning of true beauty:   

• For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
• For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
• For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
• For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
• For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
• The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
• The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. 
• The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
• It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows.
• The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.

All those concerns and pressures of trying to keep up with those unrealistic looks you see plastered all over magazines and the media now seem much more insignificant.   

Thank you Audrey!