Thoughts on Beauty and Attraction

I spend quite a lot of time in my car. When business is booming (not now, btw) I can drive 150 miles in a day. After awhile I get sick of talk radio and sick of listening to music on my iPod. So, I'll turn both off and just let my mind wander.

That's what happened the other day. After a few moments of silence I got to thinking about a strange topic. Well, it's strange for me to think about. What makes a woman beautiful? You know, to me my wife is beautiful. But she isn't the most attractive woman that I ever dated. See the difference? True, my wife is attractive. But what makes her beautiful to me is far beyond attraction.

Let's put it another way. A few posts ago I wrote about Kim Murphy, a friend of mine and a GORGEOUS woman. In fact, I'd call her beautiful. When she comes into a room, it just lights up having her there. She's one of those women that when she walks into a room men just stop what they are doing and stare. (OK, at least I do that!) The first thing that I ever noticed about Kim Murphy was how attractive she was. Gorgeous hair, a wonderful smile, a trim figure, she has it all. But after I had a chance to talk with her I found out just how beautiful she is. Funny, smart, talented, and gifted at putting folks to ease around her. You see to me the quality of beauty is the stuff that comes from inside a person and that radiate outwards to those around them.

The same goes for my wife but in almost a completely opposite way. When I first met her more than 27 years ago, I was first attracted to her by her looks. She was, and still is, a pretty young thing to me. But it was only after getting to know her that I found her beautiful beyond any other woman I had ever met. She is quiet and reassuring yet has an iron will (especially when it comes to money). She has a great laugh and loves a good joke. She also has a wonderful way of messing up and mispronouncing words. Not on purpose, she just does it. Those things I find wonderfully beautiful.

Looks fade as time goes on. Sadly, that is one of the damnable things about time. Yet real beauty goes on forever. As opposed to attractiveness, beauty never fades away.