Repeat After Me: I Am Beautiful.

I woke up this morning to a constellation of pimples around my mouth in a very bizarre similarity to The Little Dipper. I thought to myself, "what in the world did I eat to give me such a strange allergic reaction?" And you know what? I was pissed.

I'm weeks shy from celebrating my 35th birthday and the word acne was not supposed to be a part of my common verbiage. But there it was as plain as day and I became consumed on camouflaging them in order to look presentable for work. At that moment, I tuned into the segment I was listening to on the Today show, (a morning routine for me). Some of you may remember hearing the story this past February of a woman in CT who was attacked by a chimpanzee. She was actually mauled and in intensive care for months because her face was literally "ripped off". Hearing those words made me turn away from the bathroom mirror and walk into the living room. There she was, Charla Nash, the 56 year old woman who's life changed in the matter of an instance. I stood there frozen and listened to the remainder of her story on the Today show which featured the interview she did with Oprah. Moments later tears were running down my face as I tried to understand how someone has the strength to move on after experiencing such a tragedy.

I went back into the bathroom, grabbed a tissue and felt ashamed of myself for being so annoyed with a few pimples. My pimples would go away within a day or two, they are not painful and with a little make-up I can cover them up. The effects of Charla's accident forced her to walk around with a veil over her face for fear of scaring people. Read that sentence again. This poor woman's face was so mutilated that she doesn't even show it in public without putting a veil over it. My heart sank deeper and deeper into my stomach as I thought about what pain and suffering she must have been experiencing these past 9 months. The accident took away Charla's eye lid, nose, lips and hands. After an infection spread to her eyes she had to have them removed.

Charla has a daughter who went to the prom in the spring. Her one wish was that she had seen her daughter's prom dress on her. A request that sounded so simple and one that most Mother's are able to fulfill.

The part that hit me the hardest was when she said she has no anger about what happened to her. Her life was never going to be the same but she was determined to be on the path to heal and not spend energy being bitter.

There are so many lessons to learn from Charla. I keep thinking about her story and her courage. If everyone followed the same approach towards people when they have wronged us, think about how many problems would be solved. We wouldn't focus on the person who cut us off in traffic, we would just keep driving. We wouldn't focus on the person who is taking too long in the check out line, we would just find a gossip magazine to look through while waiting. We wouldn't put energy into the people we know are not worth putting energy into and invest our energy into those who deserve it and more importantly need it.

Be thankful for your senses and the gifts they provide you every day...

Take a deep breath in through your nose and smell your favorite perfume, coffee or wine. Smell something bad.

Look at yourself in the mirror, smile, wink and make a funny face.

Smooch your loved one....or your dog. Ask for one back.

Hold on to the railing, the steering wheel, the leash and the load of laundry because you have two hands and ten fingers to help you. Sign your name backwards.

Not everyone has the looks to be a super model on the outside, but all of us have what it takes to be a super hero on the inside. Beauty isn't something you see, it's something you feel.

I am wishing Charla a speedy recovery and peaceful days ahead. To read more about her story:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/connecticut_woman_reveals_her_face_UyRIAA19fOecsBDOAW6iEP