That's me - an incurable perfectionist！  I'm always trying to be perfect.  Take my figure for example. I have always considered myself a little chubby. I'm so envious of skinny fashion models！ 

To me, they all seem to have a perfect figure; they wear perfect clothes, have perfect boyfriends, and even go shopping with a perfect dog under their arms. I can't stand it！  It drives me crazy！My friends keep telling me,

 “Come on, Lily. You are going too far. You are not fat at all”.  Nobody understands me. I don't want ANY extra fat. I want to be a perfect 36-24-36！  After all, I am “Miss Perfect”

However, three years ago I met a cute transfer student. His name was Dick Fu. I still remembered he was a little bit “chubby”. His mother was one of my colleagues so she asked me to take special care of her son. So I did. Dick was a very quiet boy who always listened carefully. Indeed, he was a hard-working student. But, to my shock, on the first monthly exam he only got 63 on his English test. Sixty-three, to Miss Perfect-his English teacher, is terrible.

Let me tell you why. There were a total of 35 students in the class. On this exam, most of them got over 80. But, his grade was right “down” there.

I asked if he understood what I taught in class.  He nodded his head firmly.  “Then why did you ONLY get 63” I asked. He was speechless but he finally said, “Miss Chen, this is the first time in my life I did not fail in English. I used to get only 20 or 30.”  At that moment, I became speechless. I couldn't help but ask myself, “What exactly is good enough？” 

My dear friends, to me the student got a terribly score.  But in the mind of that student, he got the perfect score！

Lily, do you expect this young boy to be a Shakespeare！  Lily, are YOU perfect？  Just look at your BUTTERFLIES！  And how about those extra inches around your waist！  And don't forget that triple eyelid！ Are you perfect？

That day I learned a lot about Lily.  I realized that even a new mirror would not make me PERFECT！ And from that day forward, I had a fresh perfective on PERFECTION.

Several years ago, when people asked the famous artist, Dr.黃美廉, who is a cerebral palsy patient,“ How do you see yourself as a patient of cerebral palsy？”  She struggled with her language disability but smiled and wrote, ”Well, I am cute！ My legs are beautiful ！ God loves me very much, and my parents love me, too！ I can paint and write beautifully！  And… most importantly, I only look at what I have instead of what I don't have.”

My dear friends, what is being perfect？  Being perfect is not just how good we are, it's how well we appreciate ourselves.

So, 36-27-40 is not bad, either. I guess I am almost “perfect”！