a familiar face

I started to post this photo for last week's SPT. Not that there's anything special about it, but it just so happens (as many of you already know) that last Tuesday was my 43rd birthday and at the time a birthday-SPT seemed like a good idea. But I reconsidered for a few reasons: 1) my arms are evidently not long enough because this photo looks like it was taken with a fish-eye lens...no way is my nose that big (!!!) and something about the shape of my head just doesn't look right; 2) it's always a risky proposition posting any photos that John (and his mad photoshopping skillz) will have access to...you never know where it may end up; and 3) nothing says "getting older" than having to look at close-up pictures of yourself. Ouch! But I've been thinking about this mug of mine lately, and how things are a-changin'. Back when I was in high school, people would often say to me "Hey, you know who you look like? Jodie Foster!"
(I always wore my hair long and straight and was naturally blonde.) I was always flattered, 'cuz I thought Jodie Foster was pretty cool (plus she was very much a tomboy, like me). When I was in my early 30's, people used to say, "Hey, you know who you look like? Meg Ryan!" (Yeah...in my dreams...but really, they did say this.) So then I was TOTALLY flattered. I always thought Meg Ryan was just adorable, and at the time she was quite popular also, so it's a nice thing to be told you look like someone like that.
Okay, fast-forward to...ahem...a month or so ago. There's this guy...he is a voice coach/piano teacher (and opera singer, I'm told) at the music studio where I take my guitar lessons. So one night I'm sitting outside waiting for one of my kids lessons to end, when this opera-singing piano-teacher dude comes walking out, takes one look at me and stops dead in his tracks: "Hey, you know who you look like?!" I sat there, hesitant to venture a guess. "Joni Eareckson!" I'm like, "Uh...who?" He repeats (enthusiastically): "Joni Eareckson! Then he explains to me that Joni Eareckson was once an olympic-swimmer, who later became a quadriplegic after a serious diving accident, and who now "paints pictures with a paintbrush held between her teeth". The rest of the conversation was just really awkward, as this guy just seemed waaaay too interested in getting to know me. (Unfortunately, I am notorious for not wearing my wedding rings, mostly due to guitar practice, as they tend to get in the way.) So anyway, the next few weeks...the exact same conversation keeps happening over and over. The guy sees me, he shouts: "Joni!!" At this point I decided that he is some kind of obsessed Joni Eareckson fan, so I finally had to look this woman up on-line to see if I really look like her. And to tell you the truth, I just don't see it. Now, I don't know if he means the younger Joni Eareckson, or the more recent Joni Eareckson Tada....but either way, I'm not feeling all that flattered. I finally dropped my kids music lessons which I thought would put an end to all this "Joni! business, but last week, while absent-mindedly strolling down the aisle at the grocery store, guess what I heard from the cart passing next to me? "Joni!" It's just sooooo freaky!!