So Many Stories of Where I've Been

Last night while walking back from King Soopers with two canvas totes full of groceries (containing both a watermelon and a jar of pickles-poor planning on my part), this song came through my headphones. Though I've heard it possibly thousands of times in the past 11 years that I've been a Brandi Carlile fan, I realized that the meaning of the song has changed. And so have I. 

The lyrics, "All of these lines across my face / Tell you the story of who I am" were a little lost on the 21-year-old version of me, but hearing them yesterday revealed what I had missed before. I guess aging will do that to you. Now I hear the song as a tribute to the way that life effects us, both our skin and what's beneath it.

So today on the eve of my 32nd birthday, I'm going to try to see my imperfections, the visible signs of wear and tear on my face, as parts of my story. My laugh lines are commas, my crows feet question marks, my gray hairs the ellipses. 

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true, I was made for you