(I swear someone in the back just shouted out that that describes their typical every day situation)
I said something along the lines of this and my husband said "Welcome to the internet."
A few days ago the thing that sucked me in and despite best efforts I couldn't seem to turn away was the No Frills Twins:
Most of the videos these twins from Australia have posted are the two of them singing. Often they are doing covers of other songs but they have a few they've written themselves also. I listened to a few of their songs and liked their Hallalujah cover but there was something about their look that just kind of snagged me. So I watched more of their videos of their school outfits (like the one above) and found myself not only watching, but liking what I saw - even wanting to do some myself.
So I realized that part of why I couldn't stop watching the No Frills Twins, part of why I have tons of pins on my colored hair pinterest board is because I really actually like it. I love retro fashion, as well as some of the crazy fashions, and bright colors and wacky hair.
So why don't I do it?
Oh sure there's a list of reasons such as not having the money or not having an "occasion" to wear it to. Those twins are young girls who go to school and can show off their fun stuff to everyone. Most days the only ones to see my fashion taste is my kids, the cats and the dog. But even if we had an occasion to leave the house - I'm not sure if I could leave the house wearing some of this stuff. But there are times I have. I often leave wearing medieval clothing and for awhile there I was doing really good at trying out retro hairstyles and makeup.
But I go through an internal struggle whenever I do this kind of stuff because I'm afraid of what other people will think. My introverted side wants to go hide in a corner, blend in and not be noticed by anyone.
So when my husband came home I said to him how I wish I had done a few things in high school that I can't do now. He asked what I meant and I mentioned briefly the twins video and things like wearing blue lipstick or dyeing my hair orange. He asked "Why not?" and my reply was "cause real mom's don't do that."
He then taught me a valuable lesson - 1. Who decides what "real mom's" do and don't do and 2. He wants our daughter to see her mother dressing and doing her makeup and hair the way she wants and the way she feels good not the way others tell her, whether that's wearing a My Little Pony t-shirt or wearing blue lipstick.
I had expected his first response as he says things like that a lot (he's awesome like that) but his second response really blew me away. In fact it made such a big impression on me I decided to make this blog post about it and start a quest - to find things that will help me prove to myself that there are things that "Real Mom's" do. I'm going to look for other blogs or books and if I can't find something that fulfills this, I'll do it myself! Here on this blog I'll post pictures of Real Mom's doing all the things that society says they "can't do" so I can show my daughter - and myself that we can define ourselves and don't have to fit into a box that is the stereotypes around us.
This is probably also why this song has really been tugging at me lately, because I want to Let it Go:
