Replies to '05/30 Pretty/Ugly'

Hello to all. I understand the way a few words can change your feeling about yourself. My mother once said;"You know dear, you aren't really pretty. Striking would be the better choice." Since I was 17 at the time it seemed to indicate my looks would knock someone down. I also have a crooked nose that my mother used to press down on with a knife at mealtime and say that I might be pretty if we could just get that little crook out of there. My father, ever the "sensitive one"would counter that I just had a big set of frog hips on my face. Of course this would lead to my begging for a nose job and their enjoyment of torturing me with the phrase "You know we're only teasing you!" Of course I had to have the receeding chinline to go with the package to the point that someone once saw a video of the family get-together and remarked, upon seeing my profile, "OH DEAR! You shouldn't ever let yourself be photographed that way!" 

I now am 50 years old, a mother of two boys, and I have become at peace with my face. It isn't a great face, but I can be happy with my personal successes and not worry so much about the profile my students see as I teach. I always tell them that my nose is the reason I went into science teaching, and especially like exotic birds. I think we might share a few genes.