BEAUTIFUL LEGS

I am in that middle age stage of life where my mind still feels like it is in college, but my body is beginning to tell me that I am fooling myself. More frequently than I would like, the younger sisters in my ward let it slip that I am the same age as their mother (or even older). It can be depressing!

All my life I have wanted skinny legs and small ankles. I have always admired women with beautiful legs. I have great pioneer stock legs, in other words, heavy duty legs and ankles that could have easily walked me across the plains. I am grateful for them in that they are very functional. They have helped me carry seven babies and have walked me through many miles of morning walks with my walking buddies. However, I have always longed for thin, beautiful legs. Unfortunately, as the years go by, my legs let me know I am getting older as they become more discolored with veins and squishy with extra fat.

Recently I had a pedicure. Someone gave me a gift certificate for my birthday. I am not always comfortable doing things like pedicures, where someone is fussing over some part of my body. While I sat nervously and self-consciously in the chair, an older woman came in and sat down in the chair next to me. As they worked on our feet, she was very talkative to everyone in the shop. It was fun to listen to her and I admired how friendly and relaxed she was. Suddenly, she said to me, “You have very beautiful legs!” I had to look twice to see that she was talking to me. I laughed, thanked her and told her, “Not really!” But then I looked over at her legs. She was 88. She did have those thin legs and ankles that I admire, but her legs were very blotched and wrinkled with age. I looked back at my legs. Sturdy as they are, they were beautiful in comparison.

It was a good moment for me to appreciate what God has given me. Sometimes when I see a picture of myself, I am discouraged to see how awful I may appear, how bad my hair was that day, how fat I think I look, or how old I seem. I am learning to simply put that picture away, then take it out and look at it again in five or ten years. It is amazing how great you look when you look backwards.

What a grand lesson I am learning, to always look back on myself and evaluate where I have come from and how far I have progressed. Sometimes in the middle of busy things, I don’t feel like I have grown or moved forward. As women, we can be especially hard on ourselves. Sometimes it takes looking back and evaluating to really measure ourselves. As we do this, we can find perspective, peace and contentment in our lives. Maybe someday, when I am 88, I will look back and think, “What beautiful legs you had!”