When I was in high school a friend of mine decided to sketch one of senior portraits. I remember when she gave me the drawing she told me that I had “perfect lips”. I remember telling my mother that she had made that comment when my mother told me lips were not perfect, that they didn’t really have a defined outline, therefore they were not “perfect.”

At Christmas my mother gave me the sketch that she had found why cleaning. The first thing I remembered was my friends comment. Honestly, her complement about my lips is something I recall almost every time I put on lipstick. Of course it is often clouded of the reminder that I should probably use lip liner because my lips aren’t really that defined.

But 23 years later that small compliment is one I will never forget because for most of my life I struggled to see how beautiful I was. But I always knew I had perfect lips, even if my mom didn’t think so.