21 Aug Image

I’ve never thought our love story was unique: Boy meets girl. They talk and date for five years. They get married. Boy happens to be Jewish and girl happens to be Muslim.

My prince didn’t ride in on a white steed nor was I a damsel in distress. He in-line skated all over our college campus with a camera around his neck while I worked two jobs to put myself through college. He was the photographer for our college paper and I a news writer.

We collaborated together on our first assignment, a behind-the-scenes look at the historical Mission Inn in Riverside. While taking pictures of the gorgeous surroundings, he began taking pictures of me. I was a reluctant subject. Where he saw beauty, I saw blemishes. Where he saw light, I saw loathing. Where he saw me, the pure essence of me, I saw faults.

“Whatever story you are telling yourself because you do not want to take a picture or a video, please stop. It does you no good. “

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” a quotable cliché to make us feel better. As opposed to rolling my eyes in mockery, for the first time in our 23 year relationship I willingly and happily became his subject yesterday. For five whole minutes, I allowed myself to see what he saw. Where he saw love, I saw love. Where he saw beauty, I saw beauty. Where he saw God’s grace, so did I.

Of course, I can point out my faults- physical, emotional and psychological, better than anyone else, but why not enjoy a different perspective! Why are we so harsh on ourselves? Why are there entire decades of people’s lives lost to time because they gained weight, had poor fashion sense, an unflattering hairstyle, skin issues, got wrinkles, or whatever condition they warranted unworthy to keepsake a memory? Whatever story you are telling yourself because you do not want to take a picture or a video, please stop. It does you no good.

Allow your loved ones to capture the image they see of you- a brilliant soul who’s been waiting to be seen by her beholder in all her beauty. I promise that you will gain a perspective that didn’t exist before- love of self.

(Damon titled the following picture, “Mischievous Samita”, a smile so secretive he claims that he was happy to capture it on film.)

-Samita Syed-Needelman