"...the sieve of vanity..."

Yesterday I went to work without putting on any makeup. This is not really a big deal, as daily makeup, for me, consists of...mascara. And the only reason I wear it is because my mother told me if I didn't, the tips of my eyelashes would become sun bleached and I would not look like I had eyelashes anymore. And I believed her because her eyelashes are short and stubby, so I suppose, at my young age, I assumed she was speaking from experience.

But now I'm a grownup. And I know better. I realize that genetics gave me a lovely set of long, dark eyelashes (which I passed on to Tabitha and Adam...sorry DJ...yours are blondish brown...but still, very thick and long, so I did try), and they gave her short, stubby light eyelashes. It had nothing to do with the sun, although I suppose sun bleached eyelashes are not an impossibility.

With my grownup knowledge, however, has not come adult reasoning. I still wear mascara daily. I do wear more makeup if I'm performing, or going to something special and I feel I can bow to the demands of social custom, but not every day. That's too much. And since I don't really listen to my mother about anything anymore, one would think I could make it through one day without being uncomfortable sans mascara. I couldn't. Call me a creature of habit.

Or perhaps I'm just vain.