What We See In The Mirror Affects Our Lives Positively Or Negatively
Posted: Sunday, September 25, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
I’m thankful now that I was never a handsome stud of a man. I was born 2 months prematurely in 1930. And babies that premature rarely survived in those times, especially when born at home with only a physician in attendance. You’ve all seen premature fetuses, or at least seen photos of them. I must have been typical, because I’ve been told my head was huge in relation to my body. I apparently looked quite bad, because so far as I know, no pictures were taken of me until I was at least two years old. Even then, my head was larger than appeared normal compared to my body size. By age 14, I was five feet , seven inches tall, that is as far as I got.
At least I grew up straight and looked a little taller than 5’7”. I spent a couple of years in the army and they did wonders for me. I actually got to the point I was happy with my appearance. I quickly took advantage of that and married the girl I am still married to.
A few years on, I developed a periodontal disease and lost all of my teeth. I thought I was ruined. But I finally adjusted to that also, but in the meantime I had to get bifocals. Good Grief! And I was under forty years old. But seeing as I was settled in with the woman I loved, I didn’t let it bother me, and it did not seem to bother her. I kept getting heavier though and at one point I reached 180 pounds, far too much for someone with my frame. But I worked that off and I’m still at 160 which would be alright if it were placed as Cheyenne Bodie’s was.
But, after about age 70, I began to deteriorate and began looking OLD. I developed over these last 8 or 9 years, a case of kyphosis, a spinal curvature which has my neck growing at about a 45 degree angle or perhaps more. This may be a blessing in disguise because people I meet can only see the top of my head unless I foolishly raise it back exposing my ancient face. When I look in the mirror today I have to quickly superimpose the memory of what once was. I guess though, that I may now have a pitiful appearance. I am literally amazed at how younger people in Walmart, their parking lot or anywhere else they happen to be where I am, that try to assist me. Seriously. Almost without exception, when I shop in Walmart, I will be offered assistance by someone, occasionally two or three time to a visit. I must look helpless!
One day I was finishing loading my purchases into the back end of my Dodge van, just as a young woman came up and said would you like me to take that cart? And I said that I would be mighty grateful. I thought she was going into the store, but no, she took the cart the other way to the next rack for them, pushed it into that and came back towards me. I waited and told her I was sorry but I thought she wanted to take the cart. But she just smiled and said, no, it was a pleasure. Some how, I have to start back holding my head straight up and wearing a smile instead of painful grimaces.
But, when I look into the mirror, I am not disappointed. I knew this was coming 65 or 70 years ago, and I’m thankful for every blessing. Some times I think the Lord takes care of us in more ways than we imagine. If I had looked like Clint Walker, and he women chased after me, there is no telling what kind of man I would have turned out to be. As it is, I was blessed to get the one I did. Besides, Clint Walker had a cleft chin. It looked good on him.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Daddy, I loved this article. What you should understand though, is I still think you're a very handsome man. We don't even see all the stuff you talked about here. We see our daddy... simple as that. I love you! Linda
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