Beauty is in the details. The intricate weaving of delicate hand sewn lace, the sleek lines on a luxury car and the grade of leather used on the interior, the quality of wood in a mid-century piece of furniture, the distinct echo of a vintage hollow-body Gibson, the finely engraved laugh lines on an elderly face, the course gray hair that defines character and age, the tenderness of a forgiving and accepting heart, the juxtaposition of notes played or sung, the way the mountain edge captures the light at sunset or reflects it under the full moon….

Details, each only a small part of the whole yet the very thing that creates uniqueness and lends enduring quality. Whether in a person, place or thing, don’t gloss over the details or take them for granted. Search for them. Take a moment to notice each one and be grateful, for in them is life. Real beauty, sustainable beauty, is in the detail that defines a human being’s character and their essence, and in turn what is freely given that changes our world – for the good or for the bad. The beauty… or the horror, is in the details.

Image from canonization-of-love.tumblr.com

© Sandy Hibbard

Cambodian “grandma” Image © Sandy Hibbard. See Sandy’s gallery of Cambodian images at http://www.lensqueen.com/Galleries/Cambodia