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People, My Life, Going Gray Nettie and I have long suspected we could be friends. We run in many of the same circles and we've chatted as we're coming and going. But we'd never sat down and had a conversation, conversation--until last week. I noticed on Facebook that she had decided to grow out her natural gray hair color, and that seemed as good a reason as any to finally get together for afternoon tea at Starbucks. Besides wanting to get to know her, I wanted to document the process that I'm also going through. One thing I noticed about Nettie's two-toned tresses (which I've also noticed about my own hair) is that once the natural color peeks out, the artificial browns don't frame the skin and the eyes as well as the natural hair color does. I think the pink flower says it all: which hue do you think is more striking with the pink? Nettie is fortunate to have a gorgeous mix of salt and pepper. I think I'm going to have way more salt.

If you want to feel great about yourself, have tea with Nettie. She has a generous spirit, yes. But the thing that struck me most about her is that she seems deeply anchored in who she is. And there's a significant grace that flows from that. Though she probably has no idea she inspired this, I left our short conversation feeling a little more inclined to be at peace with myself and embrace my imperfections. We never explicitly talked about such things, but apparently self-acceptance is contagious.