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My friend asked me to pose nude for her...

The other day C. called. She has always been an avid photographer and she's really good. I have one of her photos on my wall. Anyway, she told me she was going off for a weekend course in how to photograph people in the nude. Older people. In particular, older women.
I waited. I didn't have to wait long. I had my "no" at the ready. When she did ask me if I would pose for her I thought it would be rude to just say "no." What I did say was that the day I can get dressed facing the mirror rather than with my back to it, I would consider it. Notice, I was careful not to say anything definitive.

Here's the thing. Like plenty of you out there I have a hang-up about my body. It's not a bad body, especially given that it's an older body. And I'm not going to list the various parts of my body that I particularly have a hang-up about because...well, it would be a long, boring and familiar list.

But I really wanted to show my support for C.'s new endeavor. I really wanted to offer...something of myself.  And then it came to me.

My feet!

I have weird feet. They're kind of square. I do have a hang-up about them of course. Who really wants wide, square feet. It's a pain in the butt buying shoes for these feet of mine. I would love to walk into a shoe store and have to ponder how many pairs I want to buy instead of sighing miserably because I usually can't squeeze my wide, square feet into even one pair.

But it's not a part of my anatomy that is a big hang-up at this point. And so I said to C - "If you want to, you can photograph my feet. I even threw in my hands (also wide and square).

I really love that I've known C. most of my life. The only person I know longer than her is my older sister. So I laughed out loud when C. exclaimed, "Great. I'd love to photograph your hands and  feet. You know J. always loved your feet," she added.  J. is C.'s kid sister.  I haven't seen J. in years. I couldn't believe she remembered my funny feet from our childhood much less that she loved them.J. actually loved my feet!

Suddenly my feet felt special. I even...well..I'm even starting to .love my feet a little myself!

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