Despite those Baggy Eyes.

I was bored this afternoon. Nothing made me busy. I came to read this happy post from Yahoo Shine and it was so touching and sweet!

Parenting Guru: The most beautiful woman in the world is...me?

by: Akemi

When I was in second grade, we read a lovely Russian folktale about a lost peasant girl who is trying to find her mother. The villagers run over to help, asking the girl to describe her mother.

"My mother is the most beautiful woman in in the world," the girl replies.

So the villagers bring the girl the most beautiful women they can find and to each one the girl says, "No, she is not my mother."

At the end of the book, the girl tearfully reunites with her mother, a plain and dumpy peasant woman.

The message resonated with my then 7-year-old self: The mother is not beautiful to everyone but she is beautiful to her daughter. To love is to see beauty.

For years, I've remembered this tale and its lesson. (It's actually a retelling of a Russian folktale by Becky Reyher; the dialogue above is mine, created from memory so the story as I remember it may differ from the book.)

Today, my 6-year-old son gazed up at me with sincere eyes and touched my face and my hair so tenderly and said, "beautiful."

He doesn't see the untamed hair. He doesn't see the up-past-midnight dark circles. He doesn't see the ten pound weight gain.

He loves me, so I am beautiful - to him.

Remembering the folktale, I go out on a limb and ask my two sons the leading question, "Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?"

"You, mom, " they smiled back. "You."

I am proud of my newly crowned title because I earned it. The most beautiful mom in the world has untamed hair, bags beneath her eyes and wears the same shirt for days on end.

I am thankful for the gift of children who see me through the beautifying lens of love.

I feel beautiful.

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Thanx for sharing this story! This made me cry. Despite of these baggy eyes, you made me feel beautiful! <3>