More thoughts on Nie..

I think I might have zoned out for a few minutes in class today because I realized I was thinking about Stephanie (Nie) and her family instead of listening to the lecturer (oops!). I'm not sure why this has been on my mind so much lately. I don't know Stephanie or her family, and I did not start reading her blog until after it made national news. I've already posted once about the situation..and other than the fact that it's a real-life disaster & tragedy, it has very little to do with my normal blogging interests.

Today I was thinking about something that I read on the recovery blog, updated by Stephanie's sister and fellow blogger Courtney of cjane. So far there has been very little discussion about what Stephanie will look like once she recovers. At first it didn't matter, they were not sure that she was going to live, so why dwell on superficial considerations? Now that the doctors say she is 'out of the woods,' Courtney wrote that Stephanie is still so lovely (covered in bandages and healing from burns and skin grafts). I have loved reading Stephanie's blog and looking at her beautiful pictures and I can't help but wonder what she will looks like once the bandages are removed.

I am sure that she will be grateful to be alive, and so grateful that her beloved Christian is also recovering so well. With such a large and loving family, I am sure that no matter how she looks during and after her recovery she will be happy. As an outsider though, it hurts me a little to think that Stephanie may not look the same physically because everything in her life was so beautiful (including her face).

I can't imagine what that must be like..and I'm sure that Stephanie is a far better and less vain person than I am. But I am going to hope and maybe even try to pray that she will still feel beautiful. Even if she's too good to think about that for herself, I think that someone needs to hope that she's able to be comfortable with her own appearance. I think it's OK to be a little vain, and I think that Stephanie is someone who appreciates beauty. She may feel like there is no place for self-pity after surviving the crash, so I'm going to feel a little bit for her and hope that she recovers physical function and still feels beautiful.