Beauty

My mother was a beautiful woman. Everyone says so — both now and at the time. Hell, I said so, both now and at the time. We could all agree on that. And that was comforting, in a time of open warfare between us.

But I have looked at many photo albums that are in her condo — way more than I knew existed. And she looks so… ordinary. Pretty, usually. Just pretty, at least. And at most, really pretty. I wouldn’t look at her pictures now and say she was beautiful. Was I under hypnosis? Not likely. Maybe you just had to be there.