Gravity. Not my friend.

Aging has been working overtime on me, it seems. Good grief. Sagging parts. Wrinkles in the most unusual places. More chins than anyone would ever possibly need. Curious bumps and spots on my skin, some that can be frozen off by the derm doctor. Of course they find their way back to new locations, and bring their friends with them. Oh, but they are “harmless”. Except for the bruises to my psyche.

And then there’s the occasional unexpected meet-up with the ground, courtesy of gravity. Trips, but not the kind of trips I like to take. And not so very harmless. I’d show you the most recent scar, but it’s happily buried under the hair in my left eyebrow.

Speaking of hair, mine seems to be suffering from some sort of follicle dementia. Is that even a thing? Yeah, I just made that up. But if there is such a condition, I’m the poster child. Uh….poster old woman. The (thinning) hair I have doesn’t seem to know how to work as a team. Rebels, going their own way. Curling up here and there, and sticking out straight here and there. And then there’s the Kansas wind. Do you think that helps? Actually, it kind of does. It might give me a valid reason for looking so unkempt.

All this is to say that my current relationship with the mirror is somewhere between poor and awful. Especially the hair thing.

Today, another windy Kansas day, I needed to go shopping for a few groceries. Time was limited so I just ignored my appearance and headed out. No quick look in the mirror. I didn’t even check my reflection in the glass door of the store before entering. Don’t try to tell me you don’t do that. 😂 No biggie. The hubby told me this morning that he thinks I’m beautiful. I’ll just cling to that and smile sweetly.

As I was pushing my cart through the store I came upon a man pushing his cart in my direction. In the cart was, I believe, his young son. He looked to be maybe 7-10 yr age range, small in stature. He was sitting with his knees up tightly against his chest and his legs crossed. It appeared that this is his normal position . He had a happy smile on his beautiful face. It was very apparent that he had some challenges, but he seemed so happy to be there with his dad. We exchanged smiles, and the young boy said these words “Hi there, I really like your hair, sweetie.” I chuckled to myself, said “Thank you very much,” and we parted ways to finish our shopping.

Such a simple exchange of words, but I can’t tell you how it lightened my heart. I couldn’t stop smiling. It’s been several hours. I’m still smiling.

I started my morning as usual, reading the Bible and devotional writing that goes with it. Today was about “Little Things That Make a Big Difference”. That young man with his little message of kind words made a big difference in this woman’s day. I kind of think he was an angel unaware and God was using him to encourage me.

Want to make a difference? It doesn’t take much. It’s simple, sweetie!

Several years ago I wrote the following blog post that tells a story of another angel unaware. It’s a very moving story, I hope you will read it if you haven’t already: https://simplyb.blog/2017/09/04/mommy/