This acquaintance was showing me how to wear makeup in “The Natural Look”. She put it on herself, not me. I asked her, “Wouldn’t ‘The Natural’ look be no makeup at all?” and she told me no. It sounded absurd to me. While she was lining her lips and putting color on her cheeks, forehead and chin, she might as well have had a jar of spackle in her hand and a spatula, and smear it on her face like she was covering a hole in a wall.

The makeup was symbolic for the need she had to look good and put her best foot forward when she went outside, but on the inside, she was miserable and angry. She was estranged from her brother and sisters, her sons had nothing to do with her, her parents were dead, she alienated her friends with her lies, and angry attacks. As a result, she was between jobs and hopping couches. I am glad I’m not the only one who did that to me. I would have felt left out.

That is why I am not afraid to be myself to the point where I don’t bother with makeup. Makeup is dishonest. Some have asked me, “What are you a girl for?”, and my answer is there are many other reasons I am a female, and mascara isn’t one of them.