They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

As always, I'm sure they're right. Thankfully, we all have our own ideas of beauty so that the wide varieties of humans who occupy the earth are each considered beautiful by one person or another.

I spoke to my mom yesterday and she told me about an event she had attended the previous evening. The event was organized by a distant family member I dislike. My mom said that the woman's daughter looked absolutely gorgeous and I replied, "She's such a terrible person that it's impossible for me to see her beauty."

After we hung up, I thought about my words and realized they were a perfect example of my true sentiments. When I see a stranger on the street, I might think she or he is beautiful but as soon as I get to know a person, my feelings about that person fully affect how good looking I think he or she is.

This is not to say that I don't have a "type". Even though the men I've dated have a wide range of looks, there are commonalities among them and I know that I prefer scrawny to buff. I like blue or green eyes. I tend to go for men who wear glasses. That's about it. So when I met Jake, I was attracted to him. But over the years, as I fell more and more in love, Jake got more and more handsome in my eyes.

The same goes for my close friends and people I admire and it's one of my favorite things about the web. The fact that I don't get influenced by the facial image before I get to know a person makes it such that I think the person is beautiful before I meet him or her and once I have that image it rarely goes away.

It's as if the inner beauty (or lack thereof) reflects on to someone's face and features.

I don't know if this behavior is specific to me, but I enjoy having it. While it makes it less pleasant for me to be around people I don't like, it makes it a total joy to be around my loved ones. I feel like I am often surrounded by beautiful humans.

What could be more wonderful?

Previously? Tearful Meetings.