A Post for My Wonderfully Terrific, Fantastically Amazing, Loving and Precious Mom
My mom...who some of y'all have seen lurking around these parts...just called me and said the most precious thing.She, like y'all, has read all my woes this week...and being a wonderful mom...hates to see her kids upset.
I haven't shared with y'all all the stuff running through my mind these past five days...just the stuff I thought y'all might be thinking of as well.
What I didn't tell had to do with personal hang-ups I got going on because of my weight and other...well...just...crap.
I brought up to Mom how I've always wanted a smile like hers...because it's so broad and strong. I told her that I've always hated my mouth because it is so small...like a friggin' Betty Boop mouth...so disproportionate to my head. (Even my dentist told me that I have an unusually small mouth...it wasn't a slam...just a fact he stated.)
"You know, Shelley," she told me. "When I was a little girl...I would go to the fair and see the Kewpie dolls. I thought they were so adorable with their big eyes and little heart-shaped mouths. I always wanted one...but never got one (she was one of six kids...so shoes and food were more important than Kewpies). But when you were born and I saw how beautiful you were...with your big blue eyes and little heart-shaped mouth...I thought, 'I finally got my very own Kewpie doll.'"
Yeah...y'all go ahead and cry...I know you want to...(I did).
Thanks, Mom. I love you.
Now...I'm off to the flea market to see what good stuff I can find.
Be back later, gators.
---
Labels: Shelley's World
posted by shelley @ 10/21/2006 11:50:00 AM
16 comments
16 Comments:
Oh my darlin, oh my darlin, oh my darlin Shelley girl, you aren't lost or gone forever, oh my darlin, Shellley girl:) THANKS kiddo! Like she was and like a feather and her shoes were number nine +1, wearin boxes without topses, was my darlin Shelley girl!!!! U.R.D.Bst!!!! and ur hair is silky, like a scarf:)
You are one blessed chick.
Ok, now I guess I need to go call my Mom...
Suzi-q -- you RAWK!
Shelley-belly, sometime we all just need our mothers to tell us everything will be ok.
And girl - you pretty!!!! (and I don't mean that in the ..."but you have such a pretty face!!" way that people say to those of us who are "built for comfort" (no offence meant, I know you get me...)) but I mean - you pretty!!! When I first saw your picture on your blog I thought "what a really pretty girl - and what a smile!!"
Look, we all have our issues about body image. I, for one, would love to have boobs that didn't start heading south as soon as they started growing when I was 11. :(
I'd love to lose maybe 30 pounds, so my skinny gym-bunny friend doesn't get all the male attention when we go out. :(
Shelley, I think every woman in the world (and some men) has body hang-ups. I know your weight issues depress you. I went to WW for a while, and lost some weight. I gather you've tried it too, so maybe you know the WW rationale of NOT saying "OMG, I need to lose 40lbs!!" and becoming so depressed at the prospect that you immediately run to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts, but RATHER saying "OK. I need to lost 5lbs. I can do that." Much less scary. Then when you lose that 5lbs, you say:" OK, I need to lose 5lbs. I can do that." and so forth.
But back to my original point - you pretty!! Pretty girl!!
*note to self - ring mother.*
And look!! Look! I'm italicizing!! Thank you Shelley!
suzi-q...this cracked me up "her shoes were number nine +1"
folks...that's my mom's way of letting you all know i wear size 10 shoes. LOL
--
claire...thanks for the words of encouragement.
NP Shelley. Hey, believe me I feel your pain. Sometimes the fact that society is "visual" is brought home with a bump. I'm a damn nice person. Unfortunately the layer of padding that covers my arse seems to conceal that from most guys. My aforementioned skinny gym-bunny friend, however, does not have that problem. Therefore she gets chatted up while I get ignored like the proverbial elephant in the room. (no pun intended)
Someday my prince will come??? I won't hold my breath.
Awwww. Moms are just great, aren't they? I used to tell my mom that one of the reasons I want a daughter of my own is so that there would be a little girl in the world who loves me as much as I love my mom :)
Okay, that was a selfish reason, but still.
By the way, I have a small mouth too. My mom likes to tell the story about how she had to buy a special toy spoon for me when I was a baby because even the already-tiny baby spoons were too big for me.
So I have small eyes and a small mouth. But Shelley -- big blue eyes and a small mouth? That's like the ultimate standard of beauty that graphics artists give their heroines!
Hmm ... I can fake blue for my eyes with those tinted contacts, but how to make my eyes larger and rounder?
Hey Shelley -- I like your mommy.
I will tell you a bit about my daughter. When she was a baby, I used to look at her in wonder and marvel at her. She was just so beautiful. Through the coltish years, she was just as beautiful. I remember her saying when she was a child that she really liked her "biiiiig thighs".
Then came adolescence. And I got to watch her begin to hate her own body and to dissect her looks. It was really awful -- and relentless.
All of those years of love and guidance, and she let a bunch of strangers tell her that she was not beautiful as she is. Her hips are too big, her nose is too long, she does not like her chin. At one point, I could not stand to go clothes shopping with her, because she would almost be in tears because she could not find jeans to fit her curves. The message that she really IS beautiful is lost in the clamor from society that wants her to hate how she looks so that she will buy products to improve herself.
Beauty is a gazillion dollar industry, and if you liked the way you looked, you would not spend your hard earned money. Society has a vested interest in you not liking your looks.
It is so funny what we dislike about ourselves. I only met you briefly, but the impression that lingers is of a sweep of hair and a lovely smile. It is a nice memory.
(wondering if she will sprain an ankle if she jumps from her soap box)
Sometimes Moms just instinctively know the right thing to say!....
Hi Suzi Q! :) Glad to see your name around Monkbot-land, especially in such a sweet post. Aren't "only" daughters the best? You know, my mom thought the doctor was lying to her when he said "It's a girl!" because she had had 3 boys already and had resigned herself to having another (this was the days before 3-D fancy schmancy ultrasounds!). But of course, she soon saw that sure enough there was her baby girl, and the rest is history!
And Shelley, HUG to you. Sorry I have been pretty MIA this past week, but well, such is life. Next will be better. :)
Aww. VERY sweet.
How did the Flea Market trip go? I went today as well and had the luck of many good finds (including Ray Charles' Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music on vinyl). I hope your trip was as fruitful as mine was.
Hey Ash...the trip afforded some good photos...but, sadly, no buys.
I'll be doing a post about it tomorrow.
You will LOVE that Ray Charles album.
I have it on CD...I had looked high and low for Charles' version of "You Don't Know Me" and finally found that it's on THAT album.
As a rounded fleamarketeer with a small mouth, I salute you Shelley, and everyone else here who is posting about self-image issues. I used to think that Lycra was the utimate invention of the Twentieth Century..forget micro-processors and advances in keyhole surgery and things with wings that let you roller-skate up mountains and wear white jeans. Lycra was the thang. Now though, I am not so sure that it is my friend, and I am in a sort of post-lycra phase, or lycra purgatory, peering at labels, knowing that too much of the stuff woven into my jeans will mean that it will not look like I am wearing any and have just painted myself blue.
Lycra gives with one hand, and takes away with the other. Look at "Star Trek, the Next Generation". They are all slaves to the Star Fleet lycra. Instead of allowing a little bit of humane stretchage, it has become a badge of self-control, a 'look at me, I am resisting the lure of the replicator. Even though I could recreate any dessert in the known universe, I remain a lesson to you all out there'. Captain Picard plays the flute to take his mind off the beer and cheeseburger which would have everyone tut-tutting at the next day, showing up in the relentless lycra.
That is a great word, Mind Doc - "relentless." The diet industry is indeed a corporate entity which feeds off the misery and self-doubt it engenders. The few and fleeting times I have suceeded in getting to a target weight, it did not bring happiness. All it did was inundate me with clothes which I felt I had to have, but reminded me I was a social failure with nowhere to go! It is funny,and something of a paradox, but we are all more real here, more ourselves, than we eve are in a world where we appear in 3D. I love the way we meet as supportive surprising, uplifting personalities, valued for our take on life, what makes us individuals.
Ooh, it is 5.45 am, and I am huuungry...where is replicator when you need it? All I have in my fridge is a bit of dried-up salami. Want to take a mug of liqueur-laced hot chocolate to the holodeck, to watch Taylor playing live in Birmingham before the AI finals. If you have any chocolate you are willing to share, you are welcome to join me!
And Shelley - I was also struck by how pretty you looked on your photo with Sadie which you posted on GC a while back. I think you awarded it as a prize this week. A photogenic and classy pair!
And for Rowan's priceless dissertation on Lycra....
The Official Prize of the Day
*pokes head back into Monkbot HQ*
Wow, I was really feeling sorry for myself yesterday, wasn't I?? Sawwy, I'm not usually that rant-y, just something about Shelley's post touched a nerve with me. I'm much more positive today. It's a nice bright autumn day here, blue skies, crisp air, coffee in hand...life's pretty good today. I might pop over to see my 3-week old niece. I may have lunch with a friend. I may go shopping and have a tall, non-fat, chai tea latte in Starbucks.
Life ain't so bad. :)I have my health. And thanks to my job, I have realised that Health is Wealth, folks.
Awww, Shelley, thank you for Captain Picard! Hee hee! Always think he has such a vibe of repressed sadness in this role. Perhaps he is simply longing for a big plate of steak and fries....and to get out of that tyrannical lycra. Here is a pic of him with thick curly hair in the 70's series, I Claudius. http://tinyurl.com/ye6254 Think he looks more comfortable in the leather tunic...but that's just me. Patrick Stewart is fab in all garbs and incarnations. Thank yooo again for the piccy! :)
Claire - I thought your posts were great - powerful and insightful. It is nice when people share something of themselves. I've been meaning to ask you where you are in Ireland. was going to ask via the Frappr Mappr thingy, but it kept crashing my PC. Think your plan for the day sounds very groovy. My equilibrium has been restored by reading this cool blog, a blink of the same sunshine, and the fact that at the supermarket this morning, my severely autistic son only kicked over one display of non-perishables. Yes, you are so right to focus on the health issue. That is the fundamental thing. Have a lovely autumnal Sunday, everyone.
Hey, day late and many dollars short, but what the hell:
Buy yer Momma a kewpie doll fer Christmas.
And
I think my feet and hands are too small for the rest of my body. I've got tiny freak hands...and tiny freak feet. They make the rest of me look bigger by comparison.
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