My daughter is bringing out something surprising in me: I am softening towards things pink and, maybe, just maybe, I am enjoying, a little bit more than I used to, being a girl.

Yesterday, I wore a pink sweater to church- a big deal, since my wardrobe consists mostly of black, white and gray. I also wore heels, a pencil skirt and my hair up- what gives? I actually felt kinda pretty. Oh, and the topper- pink rhinestone sunglasses I got at the dollar store! Oh-yeah! What’s happening to me!?? It was fun, and many of my friends complimented me- I think they were just coveting the sunglasses, but whatever. (Oh and the sweater came from Stephen King’s Thrift Shop!)

I’ve always wanted to be more adventurous than I am. To have the courage to be less than ordinary. My wild curly hair has kind of forced a crazy look on me, but I always wanted to be more Carrie than Charlotte. So now that I have a daughter, I am aware of how I feel about being a woman and mother is going have a direct bearing on how she learns and see’s herself. It is also causing me to re-examine my own relationship with my mother, and try and cull the good things worth keeping, but that’s another idea for another day.

It’s not that I want my daughter to think she has to be made-up and in a pink rhinestone sweater to be feminine. Not at all. But I’m thinking I have been kind of lopsided in my femininity- my intellect is nurtured, by creativity is nurtured, but I often neglect the parts of being a girl that can be fun, too. I can read Goethe and Dostoevsky, run my own business, be woman of faith, a mother, a wife AND sometimes sport pink rhinestone sunglasses. Here’s to breaking down our own barriers, whimsey and being well-rounded!