Picture Perfect

It was the 70's and the end of my week of living on a Rocky Mountain high at a conference in Colorado.  Surrounded by like-minded college students and career starters from all over the country I was lit up by everyone's enthusiasm about life and our futures and felt I had to find a visual reminder of my time at Glen Eyrie.

I couldn't ask my new best friend from California or another faraway state to email me their favorite photos from the week, we all used Instamatics then, if any camera at all.  However, the postcards in the gift shop were the perfect choice.

Back in our little room at the castle-like conference center I showed my new treasures to my friends and pointed out how the view of the building in the valley was just like what we had seen along our hike higher in the surrounding hills.  I had bought two of the same shot, one to share and one to save.  Noticing a difference between the cards I commented, "I'll send this one to somebody but the other one has this tiny yellow patch on the bottom; I guess I'll keep that one for myself."  In my heart I wanted to go back to the shop to buy myself an unblemished card, but there wasn't time.  Unexpectedly, I felt very upset that my memory keeper wasn't perfect.

That's when one of my friends gently said, "Why is it that some people notice the thing that's wrong?  This card is nice but your eyes went to one little thing that was wrong with it." 

Do you have a friend who tells you truths like that?  A real friend will, sparingly, tell you things that you need to know about yourself.  In this case, her comment made a world of difference to me.  I still see what's imperfect, but I tell myself to look for what's beautiful in the rest of the picture.