Mama | Always beautiful

So often I am struck dumb when I look at my children. They are so beautiful! And the astounding thing is that I feel like they get more beautiful every day. It seems impossible, and yet it happens. I've seen it. Sebastian, at 2.5 years old, has this beauty that I can't describe. And you know, the thing about this beauty is that it's so different from what we think of as beautiful, because so much of what makes my children beautiful is their personalities, and even "imperfections"—the way they laugh, their chubby cheeks, crazy bedhead (or in Bruno's case, lack of any potential for bedhead), the way their eyes light up when the understand something new, when they need alone time, or when you just look at them and they grin so wide. It's a million little things, and simply this light that shines through their sweet faces. I'm convinced that even if they were the ugliest, homeliest little creatures in all the earth, they would be every bit as beautiful.

So why don't we see that beauty as easily or as often as we get older? That same soul is there, but I think we get good at hiding it, losing our curiosity and our vulnerability. I think that one of the most important jobs of a parent is protecting that curiosity and vulnerability that our children display with such purity.

Obviously, a million and one things could be said on this topic, but today I just wanted to write a little something down. A little reminder to me, and I hope, to my children one day, that they—we—are beautiful because of our souls, not because we know how to present ourselves, or do our makeup, or style our hair.

Thanks, Jo, for that picture of Bruno!