I know, you're thinking "What will people think? That may work for little old ladies, but it wouldn't work for me." Well, I'm thinking I don't care what people think. I'm thinking I don't want to wait another 40 years before I can really be myself and be comfortable doing it (being myself, that is) and having fun. The past few years I've been practicing a bit and I think I've kind of got a handle on the whole comfortable-in-my-own-skin thing and I'm kind of likin' it.
Now I'm not talking about moving to Crabby Road and taking up golf with Maxine, but you have to admit everybody loves, admires, and respects her because she doesn't apologize for being herself (even if she is a cartoon)! And I don't know why we have to wait until we're stooped over and white headed to get away with being ourselves. So I'm not waiting.
7 comments:
I get flashes of inspiration where I embrace this same mentality. My goal is to embrace it far more often.
I think that is wonderful. What does it mean, practically speaking, for you?
A great attitude, but I find it hard to keep up all the time. Any tips to maintaining?
oh, this reminds me of that great poem, something about When I Grow Old--here we go, courtesy of google:
When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
This makes me wish I could be in a grocery store at the same time and end up shopping on the same aisles several times just to see the interaction with other people. I would probably go home laughing my butt off because I think its great to be there when someone pulls a "Maxine".
Crusty people are refreshing. I've been known at times to utter the wrong thing. Most of us are taught to be nice and polite. Some eschew that to speak their mind. However, there is a fine line between pleasantly crusting and annoyingly abrasive. I have been known to cross it.
One of my favorite things about you is that you are comfortable in your own skin. So many women aren't. Why don't they realize how attractive it is to be so at ease?
I say, "Do it!" Even when your daughter says, "You're not wearing that, are you?" Go for it. I do.
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