So Many Thanks

You're all so damn sweet! I have the best imaginary friends on the whole internets! Thanks for all the lovely wishes and congratulations. We're very excited. It's been a fun so far... well, other than the gas.

I am so excited by Hesira's post today. You need to go check it out. Remember when I tagged everyone to share beauty, both your own and those of the beautiful people you see every day? Hesira wrote about a young woman from one of her classes, and included a picture that just glows. It just made me so happy.

In that spirit I wanted to share a moment I had a couple of years ago. I watched the movie About Schmidt late one night, while I was alone. Kathy Bates plays something of a free spirit in the movie, and at one point decides to join Jack Nicholson in a hot tub, in the buff. She is, of course, perfectly comfortable, and he is not. At the time, I remember talk show hosts, morning radio idiots and all sorts of other geniuses making LOTS of jokes about a woman of Kathy Bates's size doing a nude scene. The thing is, the scene is not meant to be erotic or sexy or anything other than awkward. Yet, there are a couple of seconds in which the camera is behind Kathy Bates as she steps into the hot tub.

And I was shocked at how gorgeous she was. She was all round and pink and curves and suddenly all those Rubenesque women I've seen in paintings throughout history made sense. I felt like I'd broken through that current beauty ideal barrier to appreciate the beauty those painters saw and captured. I'm really thankful for that moment.