another year older...

I don't spend much time looking at myself in the mirror these days. I'm so busy with life, work, playing with Sam - that the occasional passing glance to make sure there's no food in my teeth is about the best I get. When I stop for a minute and take a long hard look, I look the same and yet somehow different....

There are lines lurking where once was smoothness...a sign of smiles, and thinking hard, laughing and even the occasional tear.

The "highlights" in my hair are completely natural and "light" but they are not blond....
There are stretch marks worn as battle scars across my belly and thighs....signs of a baby carried and grown.
My hips have widened....a sign of a baby birthed.

Symbols of change. Symbols of strength. Symbols of courage. Symbols of womanhood..... :)