Apologies to My Mother

In the middle of last night, I realized I owe my mother an apology. I misquoted her in my last blog and some of you probably realized it. What she actually said was, "You can't tell a book by its cover."

She, of course, was giving me a life lesson about not judging people by the way they look or dress. She always told me what a person was like under their facade was what really mattered. That may be a good lesson about characterization in our stories, as well.

These days my mother might have a hard time knowing anything about people by looking at how they dress. She would probably just shake her head because everything is becoming more and more casual. Up until the last couple of years, people at our church dressed up to attend services and all the men wore suits and ties. Now you see everything at church services including shorts and blue jeans. The new trend appears to have improved church attendance which is a good thing. However, I suspect my mother would be shocked by the change.

Yesterday was Christmas Marketplace day at Tides Inn, a beautiful little historic hotel located on the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. It was fun to be one of the artists and writers invited to participate in this annual event. And, of course, I love being with creative people. As I looked around the spacious room where each of us had wide tables with linen cloths provided for our setups, I realized how true it is that you can't tell a book by its cover. Many of the artists wore jeans or other casual clothing while others were dressed up quite a bit.

All of this has me thinking that life lessons aren't as simple these days as they once were. But it's fun to learn some of them at the Tides Inn.

"Tides Inn - Reflected Waters" MM Sikes photo