He was tall with tousled blond hair and chiseled Ken doll features. He was wearing a loose blue button-down shirt and perfectly pressed khakis. He was carrying an equally adorable child on his shoulders, a miniature Ken doll.
She was wearing a crisp shirt tucked into a khaki skirt. She matched her husband, except for a stylish silver belt that accentuated her tiny waist. And her hair--her hair! It was in ringlets, the kind you see young girls wear in movies. Perfect smooth ringlets.
They were smiling and laughing and walking briskly despite the summer heat. They looked like they had never sweated a single drop, been awakened by a colicky baby in the night, or lost something they loved.
In the five seconds that this family passed through my field of vision I stared at them with hateful fascination, mixed with longing. I was a sparrow in comparison to this family of peacocks, wearing the same pair of shorts I have worn every night this week and a wrinkled tank top.
Tomorrow I will wear a button down shirt from my closet. It will not stay perfectly pressed. Bee will probably spill something on it. However, I will come home from work and eat dinner with David and my daughter, and we will sit around the table and talk--or watch Bee throw a fit like she did tonight--but we will be together as a family. Imperfect, but with perfect love for each other.
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