Photo Challenge 8

“Beauty is only skin deep”…….”Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”…..blah, blah, blah……yadda, yadda, yadda.

I used to think those and other phrases like those were just fairy tales parents told to their ugly children.  Seeing as how my Mom never told me those quotes, I dismissed that theory.  I’m as ugly as they come.  In fact, when my Mom was addressing mine or a relative’s good looking friend, she would refer to them as ugly.  Like my good friend Glen.  She called him “Ugly Glen” since he was 12 years old and for the next 33 years after.   She said it was because good looking people were going to have a natural advantage in life.  If their ego wasn't in check, they would be uglier than the most unattractive persons.  Hmmm, made sense to me.  Also, my Mom was quite the joker so maybe she was just playing around.

In my opinion, beauty is everywhere.  Sometimes you just have to wait for it.  Allow me to explain.  Let’s take a rose, for example.  A symbol of beauty and it is used to express love.  I doubt anyone who ever got a dozen of long stemmed roses looked at them and thought, “Boy those sure are ugly.”  Have you ever seen a rose bush when it was a bare root or in between blooming seasons?  It looks like the crackhead of the horticulture world.  Who would ever think that a beautiful rose would come from a spindly, thorny twig.  Let alone a very popular symbol of love.

Don’t get me started on the whole Ugly Duckling story either.  I first handedly experienced that with a girl I went to Junior High with.  She had a crush on me but I didn't give her the time of day.  Not because she was unattractive, mainly because we ran in different circles.  I was always nice to her but she later told me she thought it was because of her looks.  I ran into her 10 years after High School and she was getting to go overseas for another photo shoot.   Apparently, tall beautiful American women were very popular in the German magazines.

Now for the main part of my writing.  Look at the picture at the top of this post and what do you see?  I see a beautiful natural archway made up of some gorgeous trees.  I see a place I would like to walk through with someone I cared for, holding hands and talking about random stuff.  Or even not saying a word and just enjoying the surroundings.  The trees look old so this scene has played out for many years.  Do you think it was this beautiful in the Winter?  Most likely it would have looked like a Hollywood set for some slasher flick where the victims are too stupid to just leave town.

But, wait a few months and viola’, the beauty returns.

Be well, all…….