The Question of Beauty

Last night, at a dance party full of gorgeous women in hot-rocked dresses (women with behaving hair, women who learned from women how to color-wrap their eyes), I wondered (I with my jeans on, I with my humidity hair) whether it would make a difference, ever, if my husband spontaneously said (spontaneously, once), "Beth, you can really dance." Would I feel somehow less unlovely? Would being able to dance (really dance) compensate for an ordinary face? Do tomboys ever grow up to be real girls?