beautiful, glamorous, confident, brave

At work there was a tiny Korean boy staring at me for at least two minutes from his seat in the shopping cart, while I rang up his mother's purchases.

Tiny boy (quite suddenly): "You are very pretty!"

Me: "Oh! Thank you sweetness; it's very nice of you to say that."

Tiny boy (stage whisper): "Mama, don't you think she is so, so pretty?"

An encounter such as this never ceases to amaze. It also serves to remind me: I have always hoped that my own children will think of me as beautiful and glamorous and confident and brave -- and that it will be easy for them to be proud of me.

I am grateful, today, for the small comforts that conventional beauty can bring... And for bold compliments from children who don't yet know how to be disingenuous.