Looking in the Mirror

The only person in my immediate family that I watched grow old was my maternal grandmother. The other grandparents died before I was born. Both of my parents died in their 60s.

My grandmother was petite and cute, unlike her fraternal twin sister, who was handsome and statuesque. She was very particular about her appearance, she was active, and she had a trim figure. My mother and I were shocked to hear her comment as she looked in a mirror, "Anybody as ugly as I am ought to just die!" To the rest of the world (well, the world of Rome, Georgia), she was a model of aging well. To herself, she didn't look the same as she had thirty years previous; therefore, she was ugly. 

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