~This is me, Fall of 2008~Early Fall 2008 my mother and stepfather took the boys to the beach with them for the week. One condition, I took care of her dogs. No worries, I just scooted over there a couple of times a day (though her aging St. Bernard did make that week more hellish than it ought to have been).
On my way back and forth from her house to ours, I would see mothers out, pushing little ones in strollers. It transported me back to earlier days.
*Back to frat parties where I was the only person with dreadlocks, wearing a rugby shirt and cord pants. Only person - no chicks with 'em, no guys either. Where I looked around and noticed that all the girls were wearing the same basic 2 outfits, just in slightly different colors. *ALL OF THEM*
*Back to when I was pregnant with Tristan and in a friend's store with Shannon in tow, running about the racks of clothing. She introduced me to a fella she was talking to, and he made a comment: "So, now you're whole life is just your kids?" My instinctively sharp response of "No!" shocked not just him but me as well. I love my kids, and to some degree they ARE my world. But I haven't stopped being me. Since when did being a stay-at-home mom mean that you have no life other than your kids? Add being a homeschooler to this and you've sealed the coffin on your own life in too many people's eyes.
So .. what do these memories have to do with moms walking kids in strollers? Well, for starters, they all looked alike to me. Same 2 or 3 strollers, same work-out wear, same hairstyles.
Ah .. hairstyles.
Yes .. I kinda had a freak-out moment. An "I'm not one of those moms" moment. And so I died my hair pink. Really PINK. Pink enough that people stopped calling me Justin, aka my husband,'s mom and started ID'ing me for booze. -- Seeing as I've now been called Justin's mom 5 .. yes FIVE times now, I do like the effect the pink hair had on getting me carded again.
A friend later told me that I could don a brown wig with a conservative haircut, khakis, a button-down shirt, and loafers and I still would stand out. -- Probably true. Thank you Joann.
I feel like a dad, for lack of better description, among mom's groups. I stand there talking about beer and football. I am not dressed like they are.
Even when I try to go girly, at least in my mind, I don't fit in with the moms. As part of the Alice in Wonderland merchandising frenzy, OPI has released Alice-themed nail polish colors. Oh yes, I HAVE to have them. I will have them!!! Glittery, sparkly blue? Mad Hatter sparkly purple? Oh, come to mama! However, these apparently, are not mom-approved colors.
And you know what, I don't care if you think I'm strange, I ain't gonna change!
*****NOTE - Justin read this, patted me on the shoulder and said "Yep, you're a dad among moms" .... yup .... ******
1 comment:
Love the nail in the coffin analogy - it's so true. Add in growing my hair long (I didn't set out to do it, but I couldn't decide exactly what I did want to do with it, meanwhile it kept growing...now it's down to my waist, throw in the homeschool, and now new people I meet think I'm some kind of religious nut.
And nothing could be further from the truth, as in, I can barely see the radical fringe from where I'm at. Personally, I think that pink hair looks great. It looks like summer.
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