The Mirror

She looks in the mirror, sees her five year old face, smooth pink cheeks, missing front teeth, freckles.....makes a funny face by pulling her lips outward and sticking out her tongue. Giggles at herself....runs off to play Barbies.

She looks in the mirror, sees her ten year old face, not quite as round, but smooth and tan, light dusting of freckles. Steps back to see the rest of her body, leans her torso back and tries to thrust chest forward to see what she's look like with boobs, then gets sidetracked by looking her her skinny legs and skinned knees, shrugs, gets bored with it all, runs outside to climb a tree.

She looks in the mirror, sees her seventeen year old face, a few pimples but smooth with a natural blush, puts on a little lipgloss, pouts a little, tries to see herself as others do but is much more critical, feels a little inadequate, steps back and looks at her body which looks better than it ever will again, but hates it. Can't stand to look anymore and goes back to her room in tears, closing the door.

She looks in the mirror, sees her twenty-five year old self, oval face, no freckles now, only needs a little mascara and some lipstick to look good, can't quite figure out if she likes herself or not (depends on the day), flips back her hair wondering how she should style it when she gets her next cut, wish she looked a little older, definitely likes herself better when not looking in the mirror, leaves to go back to her work cubicle and her IPOD.

She looks in the mirror, sees herself at thirty-five, a few light lines around her eyes, but overall is pleased with her face. Pulls at one silver hair peeking through the brown. Steps back, runs her hand over her round belly that never quite recovered from childbirth, hates those stretch marks (yuck), wonder how her husband sees her, feels more comfortable with herself in some ways, less in others, doesn't quite connect the reflection as being totally her, hears the kids coming in from school, goes off to meet them.

She looks in the mirror, forty-nine, wonders how those wrinkles appeared overnight, and why does she have these little bulges on her jawline on each side of her chin, pulls upward on her temples lightly, and thinks, "If I smile all the time, I still look pretty good", steps back to look at her thighs and thinks of Fort Knox, big building hiding the gold inside...wonders where that thought came from. Laughs out loud, and goes off to meet her friends for lunch and girl talk.

She looks in the mirror, sixty-seven, wrinkles, white hair pulled back, steps back to look at her body, doesn't care what anyone thinks anymore because she likes it and she likes herself, makes a funny face by pulling her lips outward and sticking out her tongue. Giggles at herself....goes off to play bingo....