Beautiful Joy

This post is a two-day, two-fold post because I want to talk about two kinds of beauty.  I've been having a bit of writer's block lately, so I put out some feelers today to get a little inspiration.  I got it, and it came in the face of my beautiful, fun-loving cousin, April.  

Look at that smile!  It's there all the time.  April loves to joke and she really loves to laugh.  She finds joy everywhere, can you see the joy in her eyes? Her mom says, "Our girl is not the typical beauty, and her mind is lacking some of what society deems important.  But she is a joy to so many and her sense of delight is so wonderful.  She loves people so much, and that is beautiful!"
  
  Beautiful girls like April are often overlooked.  We are sometimes uncomfortable around them, we don't know how to act.  We ignore them, either because we don't know what else to do or we just don't consider the value in every person.  But ignoring isn't even the worst thing we do.


  We hurt them, and we think they don't get hurt.  They do.  We use words like 'retarded' to our friends to be funny and think they won't hear, won't care, won't get the joke.  They do.  


  Ugh, I don't even like what I just wrote....the 'We'?  The 'They'?  We're not on two different sides.  'They' are not a subset of 'We', 'They' are not a different team, a different group, a different species.  


'They'  ARE  'We'.  


WE are Beautiful Girls.  WE are made more beautiful when we support one another, bond with one another, have fun with one another, and bring JOY to one another...like April does.  She's doing her Beautiful Girl part...are you?  

  Here's where Santa stops first to get his Christmas Cheer!  He gets that magical joy from April before he sets out.  


  Tomorrow I'm going to write about the person April gets the most love and support from, her mom, Julie.  Stay tuned!