I love your imperfections, Valentine

​Last night, I pulled up to park at one of the most beautiful houses I've ever been to. Without question, this was a million plus dollar home. It was the "my 3 bedroom apartment could fit inside of here a few times" kinda home.​ The kind of home in the kind of neighborhood that you drive to for fun. You park, then walk around daydreaming about the future fortune you'll have and what kind of fancy home you'll live in. Unrealistic, (and that's ok!) but inspiring nonetheless.

I walk inside and of course the decorations remind me of Restoration Hardware meets Pottery Barn and the backyard (complete with a gorgeous swimming pool) looked like something out of Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

You can imagine coming from a 3 bedroom apartment shared with 2 other girls and a conglomeration of random furniture and decorations, that this has perfection written all over it for me. My eyes are all over the place like a child surrounded by Christmas decorations and it's possible I snuck a picture or 2 to text to my best friend. (I hope that isn't creepy). 

While this family has impeccable taste and a lovely home, I've said all of this to set the stage for what happened next. We go into one of the (I think 2) living rooms and I selfishly picked what looked like the most comfortable chair. Moments after sitting, the husband comes over to me and "excuses" the recently dog clawed hole in the arm of the chair. The hole that I didn't even notice until he said something.

And there it was. If you read my blog, you know I'm all about a cheesy life analogy. I've written about how people are like leftovers and how God is like a microwave. Here he was, worrying about explaining a small hole in his chair but I'm so enamored by their entire home that I didn't even notice. I don't even have furniture of my own (our living room is furnished by Caroline); I certainly don't judge a hole in yours. 

I was then reminded how we often are so unnecessarily self conscious. I worry about a zit, or an unflattering shirt. Mothers are embarrassed by their kids misbehaving. Friends are ashamed of their messy cars (or lives for that matter). I go on and on, making an extensive list of the things that make us want to crawl into a hole or shame ourselves. But we need to remember 2 things. 

1. This one's simple - no one is perfect.

2. You have people who love you. More often than not, people won't notice a flaw until you point it out. Often, if they do notice it, they don't care. They love you for who you are and whether you have several Starbucks cups littering your backseat, a crooked tooth or a bad hair day - someone thinks you're awesome.

Let this be a lesson to all of us, and an excuse to be okay with a messy house, dirty hair or a hole in our furniture once in a while. Don't let your imperfections define you when you've got a lot more to give than just the "arm of your chair."