The way others see us

Yesterday afternoon, our son started browsing among old photos. That is a hooking activity because once you start looking at all those pictures, it is simply impossible to stop. Then I opened my old photo albums too and that is how I found the following photo:

Here, the forty-something-year-old mipiano is holding a photo of the seventeen or eighteen-year-old mipiano holding the portrait painting of the toddler mipiano. 😂 The portrait was painted from a photo I do have, but it would be a real mess if I added that photo of me to this post too. Btw, it is the first photo in one of my albums. The framed painting is in my parents' home, hanging on the wall together with my sister's portrait. They (my family) commissioned an artist to paint us, based on the two photographs of us they had given to that person. That was many, many years ago.

Sorry that I hid the face of the teenage version of myself. I see myself a bit weird, with so thick and dark eyebrows! But that is me; you can trust my word.

It is interesting to notice our feelings when we see the younger versions of ourselves. Someone was much thinner in her thirties... sigh. And someone had more hair. Our son was such a cute little boy... We become a bit nostalgic; that is true. But seeing my photos as a teenager - that is a kind of disaster. 😂 As if I am seeing another person and not myself. Like weird. That is how I see myself, even though I shouldn't.

How others see us is also curious. For example, this is how one of my students sees me. She brought me this as a gift as we had our last lesson the other day... she saw my profile picture on the app I use to communicate with her mom:

! [the real mipiano]

...and then she made some effort to create this drawing:

No, it is not exactly the same (I like her drawing more than the real me 😂). In the drawing, I smile more than in the original photo, where I was focused and serious, but that is how she sees me, and what she thinks of me:

I was touched by her message. It also reminded me of all the love letters my little students have written me and of the drawings they have made of me in the past. I have a folder keeping these papers; I have no intention of ever throwing away this treasure, although these children have grown since then and maybe they draw differently now.

It wasn't until I saw all these "artworks" at once that I noticed a common pattern in most of the drawings. How do the young ones see me? Can you also notice it?