The beautiful club

"The beautiful people have it so lucky," my friend Brian says.

My friend Bella belongs to the beautiful club. Tall, slim, perfect skin, long dark hair with the buoyancy of natural curls, a great personality and smarts, and a smile that shows in her eyes. She has the casual elegance that you'd find on the pages of J.Crew or Banana Republic.

Doors are opened for her by eager men. Waiters fumble and drop things in her presence. People forget what they were saying when she walks into a room. Heads turn when she strolls down any street. Complimentary drinks and dishes are bought for her willingly. Tips add up fast when she's working the floor at her restaurant job.

She looks like any number of female celebs from any number of roles on any given day. While sitting at the bar for lunch at a restaurant, a waiter trying once said ever-so-delicately to her: "Excuse me, Beautiful, so you want sugar and cream with your coffee?" And I knew he was just trying to decide if he should call her Anne Hathaway or not.

Back in high school, while I was fawning after the tall, dark, handsome, fit and more mature guys(you know, the ones in their 20s) and could rattle off a handful of crushes, she once looked at me with nothing but good intentions to redirect my affections to objects that knew I existed, and said: "You need to shop in your price range."

This made sense on many levels: I would probably not land Brad Pitt, so I probably shouldn't even concern myself with that delusion. Such young energies could be channeled elsewhere for less hopeless pining and more mental space for more realistic delusions.

While I never spent too much time preening myself back then, er, well... ever, I wasn't one of those kids that you wouldn't sit next to on the school bus even if there were no seats left. I'm a wash and go kinda gal. I look 5-10 years younger than I am, and what I lack in physical stature, I make up for in spunk and brain power. But nevertheless, classified with all diminutives and little things, and not sure if I've ever been taken wholly seriously.

Later in life, I've determined that if there can be a 'beautiful club', then I must certainly belong to the adorable club. It's like the beautiful club, but cuter.