My Beauty Detour

 My life is a chaotic comedy.

There are days I wonder if the ride ever stops?

Today, I made time for myself. I decided to take a "Beauty Detour". No..lol...it wasn't a pampering at a spa, but just a few minutes for me to reflect on something inspiring. Something beautiful. Something just amazing.

My moment of peace took my detour to be about my children (perhaps because they were fighting in the other room!).

My 19-year-old he wants to influence the world with his music. It's his passion. He is content "hiding behind" the guitar and letting someone else lead. His face is animated when he plays sculpting into distorted figures of pain when he plays a soulful blues and then transforms into raised eyebrows, a smile that lights up the stage and stars in his eyes when he plays his favorite upbeat song.

I have a soon-to-be 16-year-old son. He is random. His likes and dislikes change like the day into night. He is going to be a Director, or it's his dream today anyway. I am impressed as he records his imagination and thoughts into words of poetry and artwork that makes me think perhaps being left-handed isn't a curse, really.

My Beauty Queen comes to mind. Thoughts of her in front of the mirror in her plastic high heels, waist laden with tulle and draped with satin fabrics, accessorized with gaudy, cheap, plastic jewelry. Her hair was "big," and her lips shimmered with an abundance of lipstick! She lives today for fashion runways, but when the makeup is washed off and her hair combed down, she says, "I'm going to be a doctor someday".

A five-year-old delights me with her large vocabulary. Her ability to share...even if it means it will leave none for her. She wants long hair like her sister but hates the thought of it having to be done. Her hand shakes as she draws portraits of our family splattered with hearts.

The silence of my detour is broken by my three-year-old hollering, "I love you, Mommy-O"--his way of "checking in." He is a simple creature...Lego Indiana on the Xbox360, matchbox race cars zipping in circles while he shouts, "Go! Harvey! Go!" and routine. He cannot function if he doesn't have cereal for breakfast, and in the car, if we turn to the left instead of the right when leaving the driveway, he demands to know why?

It has been a peaceful few moments. Reflecting on the beauty in my life. These five children who mesmerize me. They are the foundation for all things good and the pillars of my heart.

"Wat-CHA!" is being chanted as the house shakes from a re-enactment from an Indiana Jones movie and screams bellow from the recipients of the whips crack. "MOM!" they all shout simultaneously, taking me from my "Beauty Detour" and back into the chaotic comedy of my life. It's amazing!