self portrait....

So I'm taking this on-line photography class so I can rock my new DSRL camera.  It's basically 30 days of instruction with a lesson and an assignment each day (the assignments are posted on a group Flickr page for all the world to see).  Today's assignment was self-portrait and let me tell you I was nervous about it all.day.long.  Also, we had to talk about ::scrunches face and clenches jaw:: OURSELVES.  You are probably thinking BFD Sarah, get a grip, you blab on this blog all day long.  But, you guys, I blab about my kids, my husband, my life but not about ME.
Well I thought all afternoon about how I was gonna do my hair and makeup and do this and do that yada, yada, yada. 

But then I stopped.  Who am I trying to impress?

I'm proud of myself and who I really am.

I'm proud of the life I live and who've I've become.

I'm proud of my successes and my failures.

So, I took a quiet moment to myself.  I just raised the camera up, turned it towards my face and snapped. 

I dreaded turning that camera around to see what it had captured but when I did I was pleasantly surprised.  I recognized myself and was satisfied that this was a real self portrait and now I know I made the right decision.  To just be me and be proud of it.