Well there I was. In the loo....the bathroom...the potty. Doing what one does in there. As always I look to the feet of those in the stalls next to me. Hey...I am a mom and this is one of the rare times I was in a store kid free and able to sit! What can I say...I observe. Anywho00....I noticed two very different pairs of feet beside me. They were mothers as I heard them talking to their littles ones outside the stall. One woman was wearing sensible shoes. Black. Lace up loafer things that I imagined came from a sensible shoe store. One like Sears or JC Penny's. Black. A solid choice. Goes with just about anything. The other woman had on high heeled boots. Brown. You know the kind. Goes up to her knee or past. Skinny heel. Makes the click clack when she walks. Bought at some place with boutique in the name. There I was in my flip flops. Doing what I needed to do. As I ran into both women washing their hands they looked just like I had imagined. The sensible shoe mom had her hair pulled back into a smart looking pony tail. No makeup that I could see. A little on the older side. A classic, natural beauty that was not overstated. The sensible shoe mom had her big bag of tricks. I imagine in her bag was her wallet, baby wipes, water bottles (stainless steel kind), shopping list, organic chapstick, recycle bags, coupons by order of items in the grocery isle. As well as a zip lock bag with bandages and baby tylenol. I saw this mom talking to 2 smaller versions of herself except they were wearing sneakers. On the other side was the boot lady. Long hair, unnaturally straight. Blonde. Makeup to perfection. Slightly tan...even though summer came to an end several months ago. A small purse that I imagined fit her credit/debit card and her sparkly phone which her daughter...a mini version of herself...was texting on. I think the daughter must have been 8. Daughter had same hair except a natural wave. Normal looking blonde. Girl had similar type of boots. Not as high but certainly nothing you would want to run around on the playground with. Both mom's were finishing up but boot mom walked out first. Naturally why wouldn't she. Her baggage was far lighter. I saw the sensible shoe mom do something that startled me. She was ushering her 2 out as well, but she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. I saw her try to fluff her ponytail. With an audible sigh, as if to say she was less than the boot woman, she shook her head and walked out. I wanted to stop her and give her a hug. I wanted to say something to let her know she was perfect just the way she was. I wanted her to know that her value was not on the amount of makeup she wore or how small her purse was or how high her shoes were. Why are we comparing ourselves. Why are we, as women, as mothers always trying to keep up. As I said I was wearing flip flops. It is my thing. I wear them all year long...YES....even in the snow. I have pictures of doing recess duty with my flip flops in the snow. There are some days I am dressed like I just walked out of an LL Bean catalogue and other days I could be mistaken for Sasquatch. So my dear fellow mom with the sensible shoes....don't compare yourself. Perhaps the boot mom was having a stellar hair day decided to take herself out. Perhaps every day she looks like this? Perhaps she has such an easy life she can spend the time needed to look that great. Or even perhaps....just perhaps....the makeup is covering up something else. A marriage where she feels like she has to look like perfection? A childhood spent being put down due to lack of beauty or value? Who knows? Or perhaps her life is just perfect and she was born with good looks and married well. Regardless it does not make you any less than wonderful! You have two beautiful daughters that will be in this world where even at a young age, they will be told they need to be different, look different, act different. Sensible shoe mom....be comfortable in your own skin. Be who you were created to be. Be a role model to your daughters for when the world starts inundating them with unrealistic ideals of what beauty is. Be you. Make up. No make up. Brown shoes. Boots. Flip flops. Big bag. Small purse. It does not matter. You are beautiful as YOU!
6 Comments
11/9/2017 09:07:59 pm
You are so right. There is altogether too much comparing going on amongst women. Whether it is personal appearance, our homes, housekeeping skills, entertaining, hobbies, children - let's just be who we are and feel good about it! :-)
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Tracy Albiero
11/28/2017 01:16:21 pm
Your right! We are all heading in the same direction. Raising kids we hope will be productive adults. Life is to hard to be so critical.
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11/11/2017 05:54:55 pm
Love sensible shoes, chapstick, and running my figers through my hair- great post! #DreamTeam xxo
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11/12/2017 05:37:41 am
I used to live in heels but have only worn them once or twice a year since becoming a mum. I have won them more this last few months as I have been to blogging events and heels give me a little confidence boost. Normally I prefer comfy shoes for racing on the school run :) #anythinggoes
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11/13/2017 04:52:24 am
It's amazing how much you can tell about a person from just their shoes sometimes. I'm now firmly in the comfortable shoe team now and wouldn't change it for the world, but I can just picture that mum's glance in the mirror and I know I would do exactly the same. Love this post. Thanks for linking with #DreamTeam x
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11/17/2017 02:50:43 pm
What a lovely read. I can picture sensible shoe lady... because that's usually me! It's very hard not to compare yourself to other mums especially when in situations like this. Here's hoping sensible shoe mom knows deep down that she is amazing with or without crazy (scary) high heeled boots. Thanks for much for joining us for the #DreamTeam
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