When Maria Callas first appeared on the international scene, she sang like a bird, looked like a small whale, and the only people who truly knew and loved her were the perennial ticket-holding opera lovers.
Few years later, looking like Audrey Hepburn, photographers couldn't get enough of her face and body, socialites overwhelmed her with invitations to their yachts and private planes, and rich men kept their beds warm ever hopeful that she might, one day, consent to join them there.
Yes, the world and its' inhabitants are superficial. That, I imagine, includes you and me. If some enchanted evening you're looking at a stranger across a crowded room, ten to one your eyes won't be lingering on the plainest and the most overweight person there.
But while the critics of Maria Callas cried hypocritical tears about the massive vanity which led Maria Callas to become a shadow of her former self, vanity wasn't the only factor guiding her actions.
No one was more aware than Ms. Callas that the Verdis and the Puccinis, and even the Wagners, were not writing operas about giant-killing sized heroines. On the contrary, if their heroines weren't dying of consumption or broken heart, they were seducing powerful men with their beguiling playfulness or Salome-like sexiness.
As a singer Maria Callas could pretend to be playing a part, or, as she actually chose to do, be the part.
Which brings me to the point of the article. If you're about to take a honeymoon and you're not as young as you used to be, or as flexible as you used to be, or as maneuverable as you used to be, and if you decide to do something about it such as get acquainted with your nutritionist, beautician and gym instructor, do remember that there's a life beyond your honeymoon. Once you've become what you want to be, make it a lifelong transformation. Isn't a life-long union worth it?
Vlady Peters, who is a Civil Marriage celebrant, is an author of three books, "the Complete Book of Australian Weddings", "The small Organisation Handbook", and an ebook, "Honeymoon! A Sizzle or a Fizzle?' which you can see on her website http://www.vlady-celebrant.com