Shield maiden

Many photos were taken today. Few were acceptable to my eyes, since I am not the most photogenic person in the world, a trait I inherited from my dear mother. There was one in particular that looked how I feel about myself. Happy, smiling, sure of myself. Not to say I have any reservations of my place in the world, because I am so glad to be here on our beautiful planet and wake up every morning with a song in my heart. 

  Here's the big but. Yes, I was cute as a child in the Campbell soup kind of way, and a super groovy skinny, straight haired hippy girl teenager, but now, as an older lady-cough, cough-I'm less secure of my looks. Whenever I see a photo, I cringe a little. Time and life has taken its toll, as it should when one has lived fully. Vanity is an ever present evil and presents itself in the camera's eye.

   Long ago, one could instruct the painter of your portrait to make a better presentation of your image to posterity. Oh no, not now!! Cameras on phones, the security videos in every place of business, all there to catch you at your less graceful moment. 

  That being said, there were a few pictures that I deemed less awful than the others.