Beauty...(It's a theme right now)

I was thinking the other day out loud to my mom, and I was talking about how *beautiful* a certain friend of mine was.  Mom saw a picture, and later said she didn't understand.  not to be rude or anything, Mom thinks my friend is beautiful, but she was expecting the face that launched a thousand ships or something because of the way I talked this girl up.  Her physical beauty is what my mom was expecting to be hit by.  Mom said she was very pretty.

Helen of Troy - or Diane Krueger.  Same difference.

Which made me think today...I have this idea that I'm friends with the most beautiful people in the world.  None of them are supermodels, none of them are Helen of Troy or Aphrodite, or even Iseult, but they're the most beautiful people I know.

Mom has never met most of them.

I've learned and grown through the influence of each of them.  Especially the ones I'm closest to.

I seem to remember being struck by their beauty the first time I saw each of them.  While I'd like that to be true, my mom's reaction made me wonder if I'm remembering right.  I seem to remember thinking all of my friends were the most beautiful woman I'd ever met...no homo.  But for so many women to be the most beautiful woman I've ever met...

I'm beginning to think Helen of Troy wouldn't stand a chance when lined up to my friends.  Because my friends have beautiful hearts. Beautiful, wonderful, feminine hearts that God made knowing I would need women with such good hearts around me.  And while none of them would mind being called the most beautiful woman ever to live in a contest including a few angry goddesses, none of them would trade their current titles as wives, sisters, friends and daughters to the people around them for the world.  Helen of Troy *apparently through no fault of her own, Aphrodite* did.  Sorta.  you'll have to read the story.  How to start an ancient war for dummies.

So, thanks to my beautiful friends.  I think you're all physically the most beautiful people in the world, but also the women with the most beautiful characters I've known.

I feel like I'm not making my point very clear...

Let's think about a practical example of beauty - the Mona Lisa. What's so beautiful about her? She has no eyebrows, her forehead is really a six head, he eyes are kinda close together, and her hair is kinda greasy. She actually looks a little sick now that I think of it.What's captivating about the Mona Lisa is that enigmatic half-smile she greets you with, and the light that DaVinci captured in her eyes. She is inviting. You can't imagine her as a real person with crossed arms and a pout. I can't even imagine her sitting for the portrait with crossed arms. The real Mona Lisa just HAD to be one of those women who treated everyone like a close friend, invited you to tea even when it meant moving her schedule around and made you feel like you were the most important person ever.

As a disclaimer, I don't sit around thinking about how my friends DON'T live up to my idea of beauty...I was making a point.

Beauty that I enjoy, to continue with the definition I gave in my last post about beauty, is the kind which provides rest, which provides some kind of nourishment through contemplation.  And it's not necessarily all wrapped up in the physical attributes of something.  So many times it's about how it makes you feel when you think of it.  It gives you a sense of peace, of awe, and of transcendence.  My friends will continue to be beautiful throughout all time to me.  Because beauty doesn't rest on the absence of blemishes (which I don't seem to remember on my friends anyway...) or how much you weigh or what your laugh sounds like or how you move.  It rests on those qualities which make something enjoyable.