Last weekend, Rachel had the opportunity to participate in a photo shoot for Changing the Face of Beauty. Great organization with a great mission:

Changing the Face of Beauty is a nonprofit corporation that is
committed to equal representation of people with disabilities
in advertising and media worldwide.

I shared with Katie Driscoll, the genius behind the organization, that I had said from the time Rachel was born 17 years ago that we have to change perceptions through the media.  We have to see positive images in television and movies, in the news, on social media and featured in advertising. Katie and Changing the Face of Beauty have taken on this concept of advertising full steam ahead. We are seeing changes but not enough and not fast enough. Too often it seems we must remind ourselves, one day at a time .

We had great fun. Rachel loves to model. She had fun. The make-up and hair artists at The Glam Room were amazing! The photographer was fun. The clothing vendor was awesome. The volunteers were incredible.  Here are a couple of shots we took.

Later in the day we went to the Coterie Theatre. Rachel doesn’t think life gets much better than live theatre with friends. Except that then there was some ice cream.

But none of that was the best part of the day or the weekend. We arrived at our location and started across the parking garage where we saw a mom pushing a stroller our direction. As the light became brighter she exclaimed, “You are Rachel. You are my inspiration. We watch Just Like You all the time.” She started to cry.  In her stroller was her precious little Charlie who had just been in the Changing the Face of Beauty photo shoot. I put my arm around her and we began to chat like mom’s chat. Rachel loved seeing Charlie and she loved hearing that mom say “You are my inspiration.”

That was the very best part of my weekend.

And Charlie one day you will be someone’s inspiration, as if you aren’t already.