Monday, April 06, 2015

Mirror-Mirror or Dear Abby

Most people who know me understand that I am not, and never really have been, a girly-girl – except maybe when I was very young.  I don’t like dresses, preferring instead the jeans and tee-shirt attire.  Oh, I know how to dress up, and dress professionally, and tend to succeed when I do, but I prefer the comfort of jeans.

The other day I did something I very rarely do; I wore makeup.  Mostly makeup just annoys me.  Plus, I am allergic to most makeup (yes, even the Bare Minerals stuff everyone suggests to me) so mostly I just avoid it.  On top of that, I tend to be impatient – duh! – so taking the time to put on my face every morning would, in my opinion, just be a waste of time.  (I feel the same way about my hair, which explains how almost every single day of my life is a bad hair day.)  Now, granted, when I do take the time to put on makeup (and do something about my hair) I get comments on it – which is most definitely flattering – but with the allergy thing and the lack of any real desire to beautify (har-dee-har-har) it’s just better if I forego makeup altogether.

However, something occurred to me: I have a daughter.  Well…OK, I didn’t just figure this out.  I was there when she was born and her constant presence in my life makes her kind of hard to forget.  Plus, she’s kinda cute and I love her, so I think I’ll keep her around for a while.  But, it occurred to me that if she doesn’t ever see mommy putting on makeup or doing something about her hair, or thoughtfully considering an outfit, she might decide she doesn’t care about her own appearance.  And, while I don’t want her to worry about how she looks, (‘cause I think she’s pretty perfect as is) she will want to ask questions about makeup and hair (and boys – yikes!) as she grows up.

So, when I made the decision to do a little something extra to my appearance the other day, she came in and watched.  And wanted to know what everything was.  And watched very closely as I applied the goop to my face.  And showed her interest in the stuff by wanting blush applied to her cheeks, too.  And, when I was all done (and feeling pretty fabulous, actually), she said, “Mom, I like you better without makeup.  Can I pick out your earrings?” 

(Sigh!)

Oh well, I guess you can’t win ‘em all.

TTFN
JMS

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