When I get dressed in the morning, I’ll admit that beauty is something I strive to personify.  Whether it be in my hair, the clothes that I wear, or the confidence that I choose to embrace, it’s always nice to receive a compliment and experience its effects.  Imagine, however, not having anyone around to stop you in your tracks and remind you of how beautiful and meaningful you are to them.  Imagine living your days in isolation, each one void of the compassion and love necessary to inspire beauty.  While universal, dynamic, and captivating, the true magic in beauty is that it is transformational from within oneself.  I have learned and witnessed this through my involvement with the Glamour Gals Foundation.

Specifically, the moment that I was first convinced of the power of beauty, was when I visited a local senior center for a makeover. The nursing home smelled of rusty metal and rubbing alcohol, with a hint of artificial carnation fragrances. It was a strange mixture of scents, but one that could be uniquely identified with the memories that I have from this senior home.

That day, however, the ladies were seated in the dining area waiting for us to arrive.  They sat in silence, staring blankly at whatever laid ahead of them.  We introduced ourselves as volunteers of the Glamour Gals Foundation, and moved around the room to give the women makeovers and manicures.  I approached a small, frail woman who rested quietly in her wheelchair.  She had a crooked smile.  Even today, I think back and remember the shape of her lips when she pursed them together to smile courteously. Her name, I learned, was Irene.  I began with the base coat nail polish, and she told me that she wanted a neutral color for her nails.  I selected light beige nail polish, and she told me that she grew up in New York City where she became a housewife for the majority of her adulthood.  She told me that after her family and friends died just months ago, she had no choice but to enter a nursing home.  When it was time to apply the top coat and her nails appeared just about complete, Irene shared with me that she sometimes found it difficult to feel beautiful. She told me about how much she hated staring into the mirror and missing her vibrant black hair.  In her words, I heard and felt true sadness until it was revealed by the tears that died in the crevices and wrinkles of her cheeks.  As her nails dried, I felt so helpless.  I wished that I could embrace her in my arms and tell her that things would eventually be okay, and that she was beautiful both inside and out. I wanted to make her sadness disappear and replace it with a sense of hope in spite of the losses she had to endure.  It was at this moment that I truly experienced a broken heart.  I finished her manicure and felt my priorities and life shift in an instant.

My experiences volunteering with the Glamour Gals organization have been extremely meaningful. But it was the moment when I met Irene that my passion and appreciation for the beauty of life changed. Irene inspired me by making me realize that I only have one life to live.  She inspired me to appreciate my youth and to live my life to the absolute fullest.  I slowly sank into the realization that life is too short to live feeling “unbeautiful”.  It is too short to waste living in the depths of excuses, too short to live as one of the many, and undeniably too short for fostering a sense of regret.  Irene and these elderly women I have met, each individually beautiful, truly do more for me than I could ever do for them.  Although a manicure may only occupy a minute fraction of my life, its effects and ability to inspire beauty through compassion with Glamour Gals are everlasting.