To Them, You Are Beautiful

One of my favorite videos from when my kids were small toddlers is one I recorded as the twins’ nap finished. I turned on the video before I walked in their room, and there they were, bouncing up and down in their cribs in their sleep sacks like little roly-polies, happy and rested and full of joy.

My heart.

I’d taken advantage of their nap to take a shower, and had my wet hair wrapped in a towel, turban-style, when I came into their room. My boy looked at me and my towel turban with his baby eyes and fat cheeks and said, a look of pure, dazzled wonder on his face, “Awww, Mama, boooful.”

I think I died right there. Beautiful.

Beautiful with soaking hair wrapped in a raggedy towel. Beautiful with no makeup and plenty of stress wrinkles. Beautiful on what was probably four hours of sleep (if that), twins with fevers high enough to keep them out of daycare, extra poundage from eating my feelings while getting through the infant stage of twins with two older kids. Beautiful.

Of course, I didn’t look beautiful. Not in a way I would describe as beautiful. But I remember now, in fourth grade, I saw an ad for perfume in a magazine and I asked my mother who the woman was in the ad. She told me it was Elizabeth Taylor, who was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. I firmly told my mother that she was actually more beautiful.

It makes sense that the ones who feed us and care for us, clean us and dress us, wipe our tears, hear our feelings, hold us and carry us, who love us, that they are the most beautiful. What the world thinks of beauty on TikTok is shallow, superfluous, and washed out compared to the beauty that comes with a child’s love.

So remember that. When you never have time to work out or wash your hair or put on makeup. Remember that when you’re sick, or exhausted, or up all night feeding a new baby. Remember that, when they look up at you: To them, you are beautiful.

Meg Sacks
Meg is a working mom of four and an avid community volunteer. She has worked in corporate communications and media relations for more than 18 years, for a Fortune 500 company as well as a non-profit. She took some time off to enjoy life as a stay at home mom after the birth of her first child in 2008. Her sweet, introverted daughter, was excited to welcome her baby brother in 2013, and then boy/girl twins joined the family in 2016. Meg finds being an “office mama” a constant balancing act and never-ending challenge but enjoys the opportunities it offers her for personal growth. A Virginia girl at heart, she loves Florida’s warm weather, the great quality of life Jacksonville offers her family.

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