I remember exactly when it was that my mother lost confidence in herself. We were on our way out the door going someplace together when she caught a passing glimpse of herself in a mirror. A glimpse so terrifying it rooted her to the spot before sending her scurrying back to her room to change her outfit.
She scrambled through her closet looking for something to cover what she referred to as her "turkey" neck. She looked fine to me "for a woman her age." What age that was I can't quite remember but now that I piece together the timeline she was probably no more than about 50. I couldn't see what the fuss was about and I remember thinking, God help me;
"What's the big deal. She's old. Nobody expects her to look good anyway."
Since that night she took to wearing high-necked clothes, the higher the better, or choker necklaces or scarves - anything to disguise the offending body part.
I hope this incident doesn't keep me out of Heaven. And I won't tell you what jogged my memory. All I know is today my outsides don't match my insides quite the way they did yesterday. And if you'll excuse me I have some clothes shopping to do...
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