Poster Child For The Old Country

I awoke looking like a scary movie villain this morning. I wasn’t trying either, that’s the sad part. I passed the full length mirror on my way to awaken Cally for church, shuddered and had this sudden urge to go lay in the sun or apply as candidate for an extreme makeover show. This is a look only TV magic or sun and sleep can correct, aided by a good haircut and color. A ten year time travel backward wouldn’t hurt either. But instead I look like someone drew big black pools around my eyes with a fat black sharpie and highlighted them deftly, as to appear sunken and creepy. It also appears I applied a lipstick named “gray pallor” with a rather heavy hand. Lithuanian heritage has its drawbacks. Imagine me in one of those sepia toned photos from the old country where everyone sits with that stern look on their face, the women dog ugly and haggard from peeling potatoes and pumping water from the well night and day. It doesn’t help that I haven’t had my hair done since before Christmas.

I didn’t feel like this yesterday; yesterday I had a good hair day. My eyes didn’t recede quite so far into my head and my skin didn’t seem lifeless, and I didn’t look like a Lithuanian poster child for the old country. Of course yesterday I wasn’t going to church where I would see people. I was sheltered away at home, working on a DVD project for a client. Figures that I’d turn into a bad example of my heritage just as I enter a world where people congregate in large numbers, looking pretty nice on top of it. The good news is I probably won’t scare any small children, because at our church they meet in a separate building from the adults. I would hate to put a parent in that awkward position of having their child cry, point and say something about “the scary lady” right in front of me. So I am going to make it there just a little late, find a shadowy recess up in the back and try to worship without offending anyone. Thankfully I am going there to stare in awe at God, not myself. Hopefully the people around me are there to do the same and won’t be distracted from their focus by the poster child from the old country.

May your day be a one of rest and of admiring the God who made you, and may all of your reflections be bright.