I’ve always wondered whether it’s possible for someone to feel beautiful, but not pretty. The word occurs to me in a different way as I’m driving this morning. Beauty-full. Full of beauty. Beautiful is a state of being, whereas pretty is simply external. Perhaps this epiphany is old news to everyone except me, but as I sit pondering this thought while stuck in construction, the man in front of me steps out of his Camry with Missouri license plate. He’s holding a real camera (not just a cell phone) and begins taking pictures, slowly turning in a 360° circle and pausing every few shuffles to snap a photograph.
In that moment, the man in front of me grows unbearably beautiful—exceedingly full of beauty.
