That Villainous Venus...

I give you the Venus of Willendorf....sex symbol of ages past. Large droopy and uneven breasts, podgy thighs, and look at the "muffin top" on the girl will ya? That will definitely spill over her low cut jeans like the Niagra Falls after a heavy rainfall. 

I have a Scottish born, flaming red-headed, haggis- lovin'  friend, who is an artist. She has dabbled in this and that, mosaicking, collage and of course painting. She has had a fascination for the female form in all its voluptuousness and celebrates the dimples, lumps and bumps of us ordinary mortals.

As I sat on her couch one day, before she sold the house and relocated to Scotland...we spoke about the female form, and our own bodies. I haven't embraced the aging process in my own body, or the changes that have come about through becoming a mother. Somewhere deep inside, I think I allocate some blame for Roger's leaving to my body, convinced if I was a perfect size 0 he would have stayed. The extra pounds I have picked up have further dented my body image.

She leaped off the couch and grabbed a pencil rendering of the Venus of Willendorf she had done and asked me what I saw. I saw a very fat chick.I told her so. She was horrified. She explained to me how Venus represented everything beautiful about a woman in relation to bearing children right down to the uneven breasts. 

She told me I had to take Venus home, display it in my bedroom and only return her when I saw her as beautiful. I looked at her every day. I tried, honestly I did.The day before my Scottish friend left, I gave Venus back to her, without the epiphany I was supposed to have. I still saw a fat chick. I think perhaps I may be esthetically challenged...

So now there's a blank space on the wall where Venus resided, keeping her dimply watch over me. I cannot turn back the clock and have a 30 year old's body again, but I can begin to understand what true beauty is and seek after it and begin to make peace with my own body.