The "Girl at the Riverbank" letter is beautiful. Sometimes I wonder if all the stories written in to Domai are about real events. It doesn't really matter to me because in every one I hear the truth. Life IS, can be, and should be that beautiful. [I agree. - editor] Behind every veil, every image or distressing disguise --- age, illness, divorce, disability, death, loss --- this "perfection of beauty" sits by the riverbank within us. After all these years, the writer of this letter still sees her in his love.

The Domai photos reveal the eternal beauty of the feminine resides behind every false image in our own lives. If we are very still, and can overlook appearances, we will sense that perfume in our own beings. We will begin to see it in others, men, women, children, of all ages. We will begin to recognize it in ourselves, even when we are very low.

I work with kids with disabilities, 7th graders. One student, Jason, has Down Syndrome. ["A congenital disorder, caused by the presence of an extra 21st chromosome, in which the affected person has mild to moderate mental retardation, short stature, and a flattened facial profile."] Some of the kids on the playground make fun of him because he looks different, but he seems not to notice a thing. His bright spirit and innocent love is always the same. Every day I come into school he shines me the happiest smile. "Oooohh, you look so nice today Miss Moore! I love you Miss Moore. You smell like peaches. You are a queen."

Every day there is a new saying which makes me feel incredibly special and beautiful. I link arms with Jason and walk down the hall, couldn't be happier. Today he said to me, "Miss Moore, you are like the chocolate from Switzerland! You are a princess, you look like a model." What on earth can I say to such? How could he have known on this day I came in to work feeling so low? so patched together . . . . . . He sees my beauty and reminds me of it every day.

This kid has such a radar for the truth behind appearances. Behind the veil of his "disability" I see my King. He is handsome in his spirit beyond belief, and a true gentleman. I can imagine the scripture means this when its final teaching says, "Love one another as I have loved you." The images of Domai are the REAL, not the ideal toward which we viewers have to struggle or dream, this beauty is already there within us, among us, behind every appearance to the contrary. And the eye that sees that beauty is the King -- that's why I love the photos and the photographers equally.

The beautiful woman ALWAYS desires the King who sees her --- there is not one without the other. That Eye which looks upon young beauty everywhere is how God looks at me now --- behind the mesmerism of age, regrets, memories, failures, the truth is far, far sweeter.

Laurie