One of my favorite movies of all time is "Runaway Bride". I not only love it because Julia Roberts stars in it (she just happens to be one of my fav's), but its just highly entertaining to me...makes me smile...makes me cry and even makes me laugh!...AND believe it or not, I actually learned something from this fantastic little flick...remember the part where she always orders her eggs the same as her "significant other"?...Because she hadn't discovered for herself what SHE herself, LIKED? She was always just going along with whatever someone told her she liked. That particular clip in the movie was a bit of a "lightbulb" moment for me (and who said that you couldn't learn things from a chick flick?!). I took a little "self-inventory" to see if there were things in my life that I was doing because someone else thought I should or shouldn't do them...or was I one that could stand on my own two feet and "order my eggs the way I wanted them?" so to speak. After all that thinking and pondering and taking a good look at myself, I discovered that I am indeed not a follower (don't know whether thats a good thing or a bad thing). I do things because I choose to, not because someone else tells me to or decides for me...I am a big girl and I decide for myself what I want.
So this brings me to "Day Nine's Food for Thought"...
3 things I do because "I like/want to"...
Choice 1= Eat my Veggies~
I grew up on a farm for most of my life. We had animals, fruit trees and a lot of space....to grow a gigantic vegetable garden. We had one garden that was just for squash, a garden of cucumbers, one for corn and another for tomatoes, peas and beans...we never had a shortage of vegetables during the summer and thats what we lived on from the time the vegetables were ready to harvest. I've always loved vegetables. I can just pick a tomato right from the vine and eat it like an apple...beans taste best raw, right from the bush and carrots taste even better with a little dirt still on them...veggies are my friend and I adore them! I eat plates of them, raw, boiled, baked and grilled...they are one of my favorite foods. I have people ask me all the time "HOW can you stand to eat so many vegetables?"...you eat what you like, I eat what I like!...and thats why I eat my veggies!
Choice 2= Wear HEELS~
I've always been tall. In grade school I stood a head above everyone else, including the boys, for years. I hated being tall, so I quickly developed a slouch...you know, the one that you get when you don't want anyone to notice you (because somehow you think if you slouch you will then be the same height as your short friend standing next to you...you know the slouch I'm talking about). I even believed it was working. THEN I had a life changing experience...we went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa who lived a few hours away from us (so we didn't see them frequently). As I walked into the living room, right past my grandpa sitting in his easy b chair he caught my arm and very tenderly said, "You are such a beautiful girl, why don't you stand up straight so that the world can see just how beautiful you are?" He then he went on to tell me that he thought tall women were so pretty and wondered why I slouched like I did. I told him that I didn't like being tall, everyone made fun of me. He told me not worry about what other people said, "just stand up straight and tall and be proud of your height, slouching won't change what you are (he said), you're tall, you will always be tall, so lift your head and stand up straight". Leaving grandpa's that night, I walked a little taller and felt a little better about who I was. It wasn't too long after that talk from my sweet grandpa that I bought my first pair of "HIGH HEELS". There was something invigorating about putting them on and feeling straight and tall...and not caring what anyone else thought. To this day, I love wearing heels, I actually prefer them over a flat shoe. I am a 5 foot 11 inch tall woman without heels...with them, I stand anywhere from 6' 2" to 6' 4" depending on the shoe I decide to wear. I get all kinds of stares and even some derogatory comments from people that think there is something seriously wrong with tall people wearing heels...(might I ask...why do some short people wear flats?!) I am grateful that my grandpa loved me enough to give me a few words of wisdom and remind me to "be who I am, love who I am and not worry about what others think"....and that, my friends, is why I love wearing heels!
Choice 3= Have short, spiky, colored hair~
Growing up I was never one for having LONG hair...I always coveted the long beautiful locks of my peers but I just didn't have the patience to grow it out. I loved looking at long hair styles and dreaming but it just didn't seem to happen for me. My hair would get to my shoulders and the ends were usually split and in bad condition so I would have them trimmed and would end up just keeping it that length. When I got married my hubby once expressed how much he LOVED long hair and made a simple request that I grow it out...so "for him" I tried. I didn't get it much past my shoulders before it started to drive me crazy. I usually ended up pulling it up in a pony tail or a clip in an attempt to keep it out my face, but continued to try (for years) to grow my hair long and beautiful like all of the models had.
I have always been one for "changing my hair styles", usually when I was expecting a baby (I think because I felt fat and ugly and the only thing I could change about my looks was my hair) so with each new pregnancy, I got a new do, in my attempt to try and feel beautiful...but I always kept the length. After my last baby thirteen years ago, I went through countless hair styles, trying to find one that would please both me and my hubby. Finally after ten years of hunting, testing and figuring out what I wanted, I found one... that "I" LOVE! Surprisingly enough its...NOT LONG! Its short, its spiky and it's a little "out there"...but it's totally me. I quit trying to be something I'm not ( a woman with the long beautiful, flowing hair) and started being the "funky, spunky" woman that I always knew that I was. I still LOVE long hair and admire those that can wear it long and beautiful, but it's NOT ME...I tried, but its just not. Along with finding the right hair cut came a "new color" too...it was a "solid", a hair color without the "salt and pepper" effect that may hair was starting to take on (you know, when that grey tends to start peeking through...UHG). I'm once again a brunette...a dark, solid brunette. Hubby loves my short hair...although I think that secretly he wishes it was long and luscious...but it's not ever going to be and I think he has come to grips with that. I've heard many comments on my hair...some good, some bad. I've been called "Elvira"...been asked if I forgot to comb my hair this morning and even been asked if I wanted to "borrow" a comb...all of which I just smile at...because I love my hair, not because someone says I should...but because I really do! Its me and it's staying!
I have always been one for "changing my hair styles", usually when I was expecting a baby (I think because I felt fat and ugly and the only thing I could change about my looks was my hair) so with each new pregnancy, I got a new do, in my attempt to try and feel beautiful...but I always kept the length. After my last baby thirteen years ago, I went through countless hair styles, trying to find one that would please both me and my hubby. Finally after ten years of hunting, testing and figuring out what I wanted, I found one... that "I" LOVE! Surprisingly enough its...NOT LONG! Its short, its spiky and it's a little "out there"...but it's totally me. I quit trying to be something I'm not ( a woman with the long beautiful, flowing hair) and started being the "funky, spunky" woman that I always knew that I was. I still LOVE long hair and admire those that can wear it long and beautiful, but it's NOT ME...I tried, but its just not. Along with finding the right hair cut came a "new color" too...it was a "solid", a hair color without the "salt and pepper" effect that may hair was starting to take on (you know, when that grey tends to start peeking through...UHG). I'm once again a brunette...a dark, solid brunette. Hubby loves my short hair...although I think that secretly he wishes it was long and luscious...but it's not ever going to be and I think he has come to grips with that. I've heard many comments on my hair...some good, some bad. I've been called "Elvira"...been asked if I forgot to comb my hair this morning and even been asked if I wanted to "borrow" a comb...all of which I just smile at...because I love my hair, not because someone says I should...but because I really do! Its me and it's staying!
Wish it, Dream it, Do it~
-Author unknown
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