Thursday, January 07, 2010

You're So Vain (sing it like you mean it, Carly)

Don't you just love a really good compliment? I mean, one where it swells your head and you walk around for hours or days thinking....hey I'm pretty....I'm so cool...I'm the best cook ever...I'm the greatest.... You know what I mean. A compliment so great it goes straight to your head (and not in a good way LOL).

Yesterday, while I was working I had an elderly lady tell me that I "was so pretty". I replied by saying "umm, gee thanks - you are too, hun." Then, she just kept going on and on about my coloring, how my fair skin complimented my eye color, how I didn't need lipstick, because my lips were a nice "natural" shade and even my freckles made my face look younger, etc.

I walked out of that room feeling like a million bucks.

I continued about my business of taking my residents to the bathroom, putting them to bed, changing the ones that needed changed, running back and forth down my hall answering a billion call lights, passing my snacks and supplements, etc. totally forgetting all about "the compliment." And when I finally had a free second where no one needed anything I ran to the bathroom. And while I was in there I got to thinking again what that lady had said and my head started to swell again (Hey someone other than my husband or my kids thinks I'm pretty - you know cause your husband and kids have to say that).

And then I looked in the mirror........


----Screams of Horror----

What a sight, er fright I was. My hair was sticking out all over the place. My lips were chapped (how did I forget that?). My mascara had run from the little bit of watering my eyes did. And while I was in there laughing hysterically at myself (silently of course, because what would people think if they heard a hyena in the bathroom), I saw all those little wrinkles that have started to form over the last few years and I thought - "young" looking - my eye!!

I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.....and if that person is really, really old and has bad eyesight.....take what they say with a grain of salt LOL!

I'll leave you now while you still have that song stuck in your head....

you're so vain
you probably think this song is about you
you're so vain.......

5 comments:

Mary K Brennan said...

I would say that woman saw something special in you. It's hard to see it ourselves since we are our worse critics.
Wear it proud girl...maybe that song is about you!

Unknown said...

I had to laugh at the song! It is, in fact, now stuck in my head. ;) Hey, we always think we look worse than we do right? I imagine the time you spent with that lady made her day so she wanted to make yours. Visiting from SITS!

Confessions From A Work-At-Home Mom said...

That song makes me think about "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days", one of my favorite chick flicks! Sometimes, I get random compliments like that on the days I feel the worst about myself... like, someone telling me they like my outfit when I think it's heinous. You're right, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the bottom line is, we are ALL beautiful ALL the time, even if we don't think so ourselves :)

~Elizabeth
Confessions From A Working Mom

Christy said...

Thanks, yes it is stuck now in my brain! I am sure that the woman was sincere....take it at face value, a beautiful compliment sent to you from your Heavenly Father up above! That's what I do anyhow!

Corrie Howe said...

I love singing this song to my teenage son when he's looking at himself in the mirror or trying to get me to compliment him.