I am A Faux Kind of Woman

Without the sophistication to realize the value of “real,” I am a faux kind of woman. It started when I was in my teens and I was given a beautiful little necklace of a dove carrying an olive branch with a diamond at the tip of the branch. The tiny stone fell out and it was replaced with a beautiful blue stone, (cheap glass, not a sapphire or anything “real”). I thought the blue matched the jeans that were my standard wardrobe at the time, and that necklace became one of my most cherished possessions.

When getting engaged and faced with the fact that getting a diamond was a tradition, my thoughtful hubby to be picked out the perfect engagement ring for me – a tiny diamond in the middle with navy sapphires forming the shape of a flower around it. It was awesome, and I still wear it today, not desiring a two- or three-carat diamond when my ring is so much more colorful and personal.

One of my first years married, my in-laws gifted me with a white fur coat for Christmas. I loved that coat, and wore it for every special occasion. It was exquisite; warm and toasty. I would not have preferred to have a “real” fur (unless the furriers hunkered down on the ice floes waiting for the polar bears to die a natural death and then made a coat out of them). Another favorite coat hung in my closet, and I received many compliments on it. It took me a while to realize that everyone thought it was leather and not the $24.99 jacket I had purchased on sale at JC Penney’s. It managed to fit me elegantly.

This life changing realization actually came to me the other day while getting out of the shower when I noticed our bathroom counter. As an avid watcher of “House Hunters,” the strict demands of the house buyers often fascinated me; people would be knowledgeable about what material was the most stylish and which material was mandated, such as marble countertops.

Looking at the cheap plastic countertop surrounding our bathroom sink, it looked like marble to me. The “tile” in the bathroom floor was just vinyl, and the white cupboard looked like wood (but was just particle board with the “wood” part uncurling in a few areas). The bright, cheerful flower arrangement on the back of the toilet was made of artificial flowers, and a plastic ivy plant curled around the circumference of the mirror. My whole bathroom was faux, and I was suddenly thankful that at least the toilet was real!

“Real” for me are the things that meet my needs. I am not envious of people with huge diamonds and marble countertops, but I admire their beautiful choices that are right for them. “To each his own,” my mom used to say. I may not always be perfect, but I’m always me, the “real” me!

The Mirror From the House of Horrors

Dressing in the morning for work, I try to look my best. When I look in our bathroom mirror, my hair looks pleasingly curly. My face looks “fine”. Average, (as I am no beauty by any means,) but fine, especially when I smile back at myself. Although I could stand to loose a few pounds, I don’t look overweight. Pleased with how I look, out the door I go to work.

I remain in a confident, upbeat mood unless I have to pee. IF I have to do so, I enter the room with the mirror from the house of horrors ..our office bathroom…oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh! Prepared for Halloween all year, this mirror somehow magically transforms my okay look into a horror. My hair is wild, frizzy, with straggly curls going everywhere. (Not unlike Dr. Frankenstein or Freud.) My eyes bulge out, with dark circles beneath them, (somewhat resembling characters from the Walking Dead.) My face is mottled and spotted and scary. My pores seem huge and my freckles overpower the rest of my face. And I am the size of elephant!

The first few times I used this bathroom, I scared myself. I am used to its tricks by now, so I don’t pay attention. I am confident enough to know that, at least in my mind, that is not the REAL me. That mirror distorts what I see on the outside so that it does not match what I feel on the inside. So I try not to have to pee all day….