The Beauty of Connections – #BOAW16

“True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows and with passing years only grows!” — Sam Levenson, “The Beauty of a Woman”

Beauty is strength and kindness and the connections we have each other. I attended a funeral yesterday for a 99 year-old Jewish lady we called “Lovey.” Yes, her name was Sylvia, but she was Lovey.

She was the 90+ year old whose body housed the mind of an irreverent Flapper. She was the gal who yelled “Boobs!” before a family photograph. She was the person you wanted to laugh with over a mango margarita. And she was the woman who collected elephants for good luck and because “they never forget anything.”

My favorite Maya Angelou quote was read at Lovey’s funeral:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Lovey made you feel like sharing kindness with the world. That was her magic, and she passed it on to her daughter and granddaughters in spades.

I watched the women of her family yesterday, as they are the ones I am connected with. I watched them smile through tears, and laugh through grief, and make sure that everyone had just one more cookie or another bite to eat. I watched her rabbi granddaughter conduct Lovey’s memorial, supporting the family through her own pain.

The beauty of a woman is in her connections. Her bonding and her backbone. Her caring and her kindness. The beauty of a woman is the joy of creativity and being alive that someone like Lovey spreads through her world.

If I actually get to live a long life, I want to be just like Lovey when I grow up.

Beauty is kindness. Beauty is perseverance. Beauty is love.

What says “beauty” to you? Share it in the comments, and please visit the Beauty of a Woman blogfest today at August McLaughlin’s place. She has an “original” BOAW category and a GirlBoner version. This post is a tiny little part of the original category, but I encourage you to visit them all this week.

Go spread some love today, and wallow in your own beauty.

Hugs!
~ Jenny

Here are some BOAW entries from previous years:

• 2015: The Year I Became Bionic
• 2014: What Are Your 21 Layers of Beauty?
• 2013: Beauty of a Woman Blogfest: Do Breasts Define the Female?
• 2012: I didn’t participate, but was moved by these posts to do so the other years.