Peeling Back the Layers

Many years ago, I inherited one of my grandmother's small accent tables.  It had been painted over and in my determined state, I began sanding it down by hand.  After removing the first layer of paint, I soon discovered there was another.  This discovery was met with yet another layer and that went on and on.  I thought to myself, how many layers of paint are on this thing?  There had to be wood at some point.  I carefully took my time and eventually, I got to the real thing.  After a good coat of varnish, I was the proud owner of a piece of my grandmother's home.  I remember she had such nice stuff.  There were interesting china cabinets filled with the most interesting china.  I also remember there was clothes in every closet and in every cupboard.  I also remember when you went to bed, you were essentially pinned under the weight of all those quilts.  I guess that was the only place left to store them--on the bed itself.  I was fascinated by my grandmother's stuff and I now have that table as part of my memories of her.  Today, I came to a realization that my life is much like that table.  For the past year, I have been peeling back my own layers.  There was an incredible layer of fat that had to go.  There was another layer of bad food choices that needed to be scraped away.  There was a thick layer of the wrong thoughts that kept me stuck.  Finally, there was another layer that had someone's name on it.  That was the last to go.  Once you remove all those layers, you're left with an incredible work of art and in this case, it is me.  Just like refinishing that table, my life didn't recreate itself overnight.  It's taken a full year to do all of this.  I'm careful not to say I'm done because the minute I say that, I really am done.  I'll just keep putting a layer of polish all over myself every once in a while.  Not much work will be required for that, however, as I've got a smile from cheek to cheek that shines all over me everyday.