"Breathtaking"

When I worked at Foland's, we sold a lot of "art." I use quotation marks because the artistic value of many of these items was questionable, at best. But people must have liked it, because they bought it. And a lot of it wasn't cheap.

In addition to large, shimmery, pastel abstracts on canvas, we also had a few framed posters. One of them was obviously designed for a baby's room. It was a photo of about 10 babies, all lined up in a row.

Cute, right?

In theory, yes. Except these weren't Anne Geddes babies, dressed up in cute little outfits to make them look like bumblebees or peapods. Every damn baby in the picture was ugly.

Now, don't even start with that "all babies are beautiful" crap, because I don't buy it. I've seen ugly babies. Granted, I have no maternal instinct beyond my feelings for Zoe, but there are some ugly babies out there. We've all seen 2-month-olds that look like 80-year-old men. we've all seen cross-eyed kids with blotchy skin and crazy tufts of hair. And yet, everyone who saw the picture would say "Awww! That's so cute!"

I know cute. Kissing pandas are cute. Otters holding hands are cute. And some babies are cute. Definitely not all babies.

Today, I discovered that I'm not the only one who thinks that some babies are ugly. In fact, these people celebrate it!