Beautiful

Today I saw the most beautiful family at Hospital de los Andes. The mother was 22 and had a cold and the father was so concerned for her, it was adorable. The mother had a blanket draped over her winter coat and was breastfeeding her baby girl. She had the most perfect face- big, bright, brown eyes, a soft, little nose and well lined lips. Her husband was also beautiful. He had very kind eyes, and soft, yet masculine features, his nose and jaw were absolutely perfect. He stood over his wife while she fed his daughter, in a protective stance that she probably didn’t notice anymore. They both looked tired, their daughter was young and kept them up all the time, no doubt. I felt bad for staring, but I had never seen two people as beautiful as this before. Their skin was the color of cinnamon and all three of them had hair blacker than night. I thought about how cheapened the word beautiful has become. Looking at this couple, I realized that beauty doesn’t have to be rare or exotic to be special. But too many things are called beautiful that should not be. Which is why true beauty stings your eyes like morning light after a long night of ugly. This family was beautiful. Like a star, or a math problem, or a kiss. I know that I will probably forget what their faces looked like in a few days but I want to remember the awe I felt in their presence forever. I’m not exactly sure why but I feel like what I saw this morning could be really important some day.