Lynn-- So glad you stopped by and read it. By the way, every time I glance at your "Love and Light" closing, I smile.

P.M.-- Popular? Me? Ah, shucks.

Seriously, I've never thought of myself as popular. Now that I'm living in my home town again, though, old high school classmates often tell me that I was. The fact of the matter is that I was a painfully insecure adolescent. I know I was friendly with lots of groups of kids (I was voted "friendliest" sophomore year), but popular? No way. I actually felt the opposite--that I didn't really belong.

The only reason I'm mentioning this is because I've been thinking a lot about self-image since I started interviewing late bloomers. So many women are emotional anorexics. In other words, what we metaphorically see in the mirror is not our true selves. Our vision is warped by past wounds, societal ideals of women and beauty, and just garden-variety low self-esteem. The reason this is important to recognize is that these distorted images of ourselves hold us back from blossoming into the glorious, powerful women we were born to be.

Anyway, I am SO excited about Book 'Em 2005. What a great cause, too! Can't wait to meet.