Misplaced eyes. Craters for cheekbones. Twisted nose.

Cherish Your Imperfections

Olivia’s face is perfection. Flawless features and buttery skin. Quite a change from the face I’d seen months earlier. Back then, Olivia’s face looked like it had been put through a food processor. Misplaced eyes. Craters instead of cheekbones. Twisted nose. An out-of-kilter, lopsided mouth swollen around bunched, protruding teeth.

Neither machine nor man did this to Olivia.

“This face is God’s doing,” she says without bitterness. “And we’ve been through a lot together. It’s hard saying goodbye after 16 years.”

When I meet Olivia, she desperately needs surgery to repair her jaw that’s fractured from years of misalignment and is now causing her teeth to fall out. But Olivia’s family has no money or insurance to pay for it.

“An angel donor has offered to pay for a complete facial makeover. Not just my jaw.”

Olivia’s about to go from gargoyle to gorgeous, but she’s concerned.

“I don’t like the ridicule I take because of my deformed face, but when I look in the mirror,” Olivia says, “I like the person I see. My imperfections and struggles on the outside have made me who I am on the inside. Will I lose the best of me when they fix my face?”

Turns out Olivia was wise beyond her age. A year after her surgery Olivia confides, “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have the full makeover. I miss my old face because it made me into so much more than the pretty face staring back at me from the mirror now. My imperfections were the friends who helped create the best in me. I miss them when I look in the mirror. And, you know what, looking like everyone else isn’t all it’s all it’s cracked up to be. Kinda boring.”

My lesson from this story: Love what brings out the best in you as a person and forget the rest. Take a good look in the mirror of your soul and cherish and celebrate the best of yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feel free to comment below or leave a comment on the Global Cowgirl Facebook page. Also, check out my book Stories from a Global Cowgirl… “Don’t Put a Cat on Your Head!” Available on Amazon