{"id":94,"date":"2011-04-17T12:43:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T16:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/myhappyplace\/?p=94"},"modified":"2011-04-28T12:03:16","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T16:03:16","slug":"start-shining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html","title":{"rendered":"Start Shining!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This morning I was driving into the morning sun and I pulled down the visor mirror to take a look at my tired eyes. And they were indeed tired. The wrinkles were more pronounced than usual and the sun was hitting my face in such a way that I could really see them. And I got a bit emotional.<\/p>\n

I can hear you now. You’re thinking, “Oh, great. Another one of those blogs where a 39 year old bemoans the fact that she’s no longer in her 20’s and goes on and on about her face and her body and her hair…”<\/p>\n

No worries; you’re wrong. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 I got a bit emotional because I saw the white skin, the freckles, the hazel eyes–and I saw my sister Willa’s features.\u00a0 I love Willa…and her freckles…and her hazel eyes…and, yes, her wrinkles, and– in that love–I find love for myself.<\/p>\n

My Mom was38 years old when I was born and my older sisters were teenagers.\u00a0 When I was eight two of my sisters started having babies and I became acquainted with such things as stretch marks.\u00a0 As a teenager I would play double solitaire with my Mom and I was fascinated with my Mom’s beautiful hands with pronounced veins and small wrinkles.\u00a0 When I was in my early 30’s my sister Starla’s hair turned from blond to a beautiful silver and she grew it to her shoulders and let it become a focal point.<\/p>\n

Now when I look at Willa’s smile lines or Mom’s hand veins or Starla’s\u00a0 silver hair,\u00a0 I simply see those things as part of them. And I love these women.\u00a0 I see the beauty that shines through them. I think being the “young ‘un” in this family has been healthy for me because it’s helped me to see that no one really cares if I have a few extra wrinkles…or pounds…or gray hairs. If I am shining–full of love and joy–people see the light in me and they aren’t concerned with the bodily package.<\/p>\n

I push the mirror visor up where it belongs, turn from it to the people in my life, and start SHINING!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I was driving into the morning sun and I pulled down the visor mirror to take a look at my tired eyes. And they were indeed tired. The wrinkles were more pronounced than usual and the sun was hitting my face in such a way that I could really see them. And I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,50,87,17,52,49],"tags":[93,264],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-gray-hair","category-inspiration","category-purposeful-living","category-sisters","category-wrinkles","tag-aging","tag-family"],"yoast_head":"\nStart Shining! - My Happy Place<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Start Shining! - My Happy Place\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This morning I was driving into the morning sun and I pulled down the visor mirror to take a look at my tired eyes. And they were indeed tired. The wrinkles were more pronounced than usual and the sun was hitting my face in such a way that I could really see them. And I…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"My Happy Place\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-17T16:43:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-04-28T16:03:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/myhappyplace\/files\/2011\/04\/me-and-jacob2-186x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"kjackson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Start Shining! - My Happy Place","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Start Shining! - My Happy Place","og_description":"This morning I was driving into the morning sun and I pulled down the visor mirror to take a look at my tired eyes. And they were indeed tired. The wrinkles were more pronounced than usual and the sun was hitting my face in such a way that I could really see them. And I…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html","og_site_name":"My Happy Place","article_published_time":"2011-04-17T16:43:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-04-28T16:03:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/myhappyplace\/files\/2011\/04\/me-and-jacob2-186x300.jpg"}],"author":"kjackson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html","name":"Start Shining! - My Happy Place","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/myhappyplace\/files\/2011\/04\/me-and-jacob2-186x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-04-17T16:43:53+00:00","dateModified":"2011-04-28T16:03:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/#\/schema\/person\/8a921a151b82f5352cf9c3cc20d82fa4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/myhappyplace\/files\/2011\/04\/me-and-jacob2-186x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/myhappyplace\/files\/2011\/04\/me-and-jacob2-186x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/2011\/04\/start-shining.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Start Shining!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/","name":"My Happy Place","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/#\/schema\/person\/8a921a151b82f5352cf9c3cc20d82fa4","name":"kjackson","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/author\/kjackson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/myhappyplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}