Chin Up! Shoot Down!

A picture can be worth a thousand words, or chins.

No matter how you look at it, keeping your chin up is a good thing, but if you have a choice, always have the photographer shoot down.

Let's face it, chins can be a defining characteristic - think of Jay Leno. And whether you walk tall and keep your chin level with the floor, or lift your nose and tip your chin up, or drop your gaze and dip your chin down, you can send a  message about yourself without saying a word.

And such is the reality of my recent picture at the very fun Albuquerque Roadrunner Food Bank "Souper Bowl" fundraising event. I must have been so overwhelmed that I forgot the "chin up" rule for the picture. I mean, not only do I have an obvious chin, but I have more than one.

Another way to say this might be: turtle neck sweaters are not always your friend.

And so, instead of staying as depressed as I was for the first day after seeing the picture, I have decided to pull myself out of the doldrums, stretch out the neck on my turtleneck, lift my chin and press forward.

Life will go on, although it's gonna be a bit harder than normal since I now am aware of the double weight hanging off the lower part of my face. If I really wanted to stretch the truth a bit, I suppose I could claim the title of weight lifter.

Anyway, yet another wake up call. First the heart scare, which thankfully turned out to be nothing. Then the TV spot, which caused me to gasp and turn off the TV. And now the double chin photo. It's as if the entire universe is shouting at me.

What, you are probably thinking, is the universe shouting? Well, duh, it's obvious isn't it? Whispers and hushed words and mumbled comments and forceful explosions are shouting in unity: "Get a grip, Jeannie. Stop eating, start moving, Jeannie..."

and most important....."Chin up, Jeannie!"

Done.