This is one of the reasons why I love my wife so much: She is so cute! But it isn’t just her looks that make her cute. As a matter of fact, for most people, I think that looks have little to do with cuteness factor. Cuteness comes from within, from the inner being and soul of a person. People’s eyes who “light” up, do so because their sweet inner spirit is shining through their eyes. It isn’t the outward person, but the true inner self that shines through one’s outer self and makes them cute.

This is why there are so many people (women in my context) that are pretty but not beautiful. A woman can be outwardly pretty, but if she doesn’t have an ounce of character, then who cares? This is why strippers and other parts of sleazy society may look pretty, at least on the outside, but are not beautiful. They don’t hold a candle to people like my wife because their external beauty is all there is, whereas my wife has beauty bubbling up from the inside. Yes, everyone has inner beauty that sometimes only God can see, but that is beyond the scope of this blog . . .

My wife has both inner and outward beauty, but I love her looks the most when her inner self shines through her face and becomes visible on the outside. It’s like her outward beauty becomes even better when her sweet spirit shines through her face.

Of all the photos of her in Hong Kong, the picture above turned out to be one of my favorites of her. Look again. Do you see her? For a few days, I never even noticed that she was in this picture. I was snapping away at the local buses passing by and unknowingly caught her in one of her inward beauty moments, where it flowed to the top. She was trying to get my attention to tell me she was headed down the street to the McDonalds, so I would know where she was. Oblivious, I was just taking pictures.

I never did see her, and I found her a few minutes later, but she had yelled from across the street several times, to her embarrassment. The classic look you are seeing on her face in this shot is a look of: “Did you see me? I’m too embarrassed to yell again, so I’m hoping you heard me. Oh boy, did he see me?”

In that moment, when I was just clicking away, I unwittingly snapped a glimpse at the inner Laura. Almost like catching a ghost on film, I was able to see an unposed shot of her face that screams, “I’m cute!” These expressions are so rare and hard to get when a shot is posed. This candid shot, captured for eternity, shows a glimpse into my sweet baby’s heart. Her character is deep and her heart is sweet.

THAT’S why I love my wife so much.

To post comments and more, visit TobyLaura.com