Portrait #2

I seriously took no other photos today except this series of goofy self portraits. I needed a happier photo for my Facebook business page. I'm sure the neighbors thought me pretty silly outside grinning at my camera.

This photo actually reminds me of a story...

Before my husband and I were married, we visited our pundit with my soon to be in-laws. Now, it was never quite certain how happy (or unhappy) they were with their son's choice in an American wife. At that time, I was pretty sure it was more on the unhappy end of the stick.

As the pundit spoke, he briefly mentioned my "tikka" on my forehead. If you'll notice, I do have a fairly pronounced mole right dab between my eyes. In my husband's culture, women wear a colored dot (many times red) after marriage.

My mother-in-law immediately spoke up and said that she was positive I was his wife in a past life and that because of this, I was meant for him. She had recognized that my natural tikka meant I was part of the family to her.

It was at that moment I realized that they had accepted me as their daughter...as their Lakshmi. And I was a happy girl.