My tolerance for lame is even lower during pregnancy than during non-pregnancy. I have a lot more rage and am a lot more likely to lose all tact. Just be aware of that.
- Speaking of which, what I am about to say is harsh. Brace yourself. I know some may find it cruel. I loved my mission as much as anybody. It affected me a lot, in a good way. I think about it almost daily. I really feel like it was an opportunity I didn't deserve and that I will spend my whole life paying back. It rocked my world in a million ways. But it is also OVER. And when people come home, they need to move on. Keep your good habits, keep your memories, but there is no reason to yap on and on about it and YEARS later be wearing your (mission country's) soccer jersey or saying "burrrrito" like you're a native speaker or unloading useless bits of church history trivia on everyone you see. IT'S OVER. CUT THE STRINGS. LIFE GETS BETTER AND BETTER. MOVE ON. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
- The same is true for every life event. It's cool, but it wasn't THAT cool. If you have too much pride for STUDY ABROAD '96 FOR LIFE! or DRILL TEAM '03! or if you're thirty and still talking about your ward freshman year, or really just involved any overly-nostalgic yappage, it's embarrassing. Can you mention them? Yes. Briefly. If relevant. But take the letterman's jacket off.
- On an unrelated note, we hit up Philadelphia last week which was awesome. Not only was it delightful to see hub's sister's fam and watch our toddlers bond (meaning ours took stuff away from theirs), but it also caused me to reflect on things like the Constitution. And sometimes you forget how miraculous it was, and that stories aren't just stories; they involve real people with real lives, but sometimes important things become so familiar that you become numb to their significance. This is true, for example, with the pioneers. You hear enough stories that you end up thinking, "Okay, they walked and walked," like you're talking about something trivial like running a lot of errands, but once in a while it seems real and you feel real reverence. I had that experience several times in Philadelphia, looking at pictures of people from the suffrage movement or abolitionists or what have you and feeling real awe and amazement and how stories aren't just stories; they involve people. Where is the balance between talking about something enough so we honor, and talking about things so much that our senses become dulled? Now, back to the griping.
- What is WITH the obsession with the 1950s/60's stuff? The red lipstick, the pillbox hats, the aprons, the bright kitchen appliances, the fetishization of domesticity, the whole bit. I'm pro-parenting, pro-cooking, pro-cleaning, and so on, but I'm confused about the costume-ification of SAHM-life. No offense if you're into it, but can you explain it to me? I suspect it's more than just fashion. It seems to be romanticizing a time which--NEWFLASH--was not all that innocent or really all that awesome for us women, many of whom struggled mightily to forge their own identities and be treated as non-ornaments. Do we really want to go back there? Do we? Betty Draper as a role model is pretty depressing.
- Annnd, just to remind you that I don't spend ALL my e-time outraged: a funny friend (who is also a beauty expert) sent me some Moroccan Oil for my hair the other day. Not only did it cause the best hair day of my life last week, but it also gave me a few minutes of belly laughing thanks to this video (click on the short video and then wait for the dude in the white shirt, aka, professional hair-swisher, to begin).
11 comments:
I love everything you said here. And I feel like the dude in the video was more of an amateur swisher; he was fumbling around with the swishing.
Just a little bit about the 50's and 60's stuff...I like most of it cause it seems classic. Like that is how it is supposed to look. I like the Shirt-dresses from the 50's cause they are super flattering, and the colored appliances are just cool. I love color. And maybe I won't decorate my house with a retro theme, but I will always stop and look when I see something from that era.
Its fine if you don't like that trend. I don't like leggings under skirts.
Hey! What's up? Know what I hate most about blogging? We don't TALK to people anymore. Like, commenting is its own form of communication, which I love, but is just not the same. Anyway, as someone who actually digs the 50's vibe (although I am not about the 60's and I can tell the distinction), I will say that at least I for one don't romanticize or get all misty eyed for the past. For me, it is about style which I think is totally lacking in so many current "fashions". I just look better in pleats and bright colors than in grey everything that is drapey. And my hair only likes to be curled and anything else is gross. Ruffles are my friends. Pleats are my friends. 'Ya know? So I think we are on the same page, because all those girls out there who want to be SAHMs from the 50s are kinda gaggy to me, but I think that just because someone chooses a personal style based on fashion tastes doesn't, necessarily, mean that they are the Anti-Fem who must be railed against. Not that I thought you were railing. Because I think you rock.
I'm right there with you on the 50s/60s nostalgia ... I love Mad Men too, but don't people get that the point is every character is miserable? Betty and Joan have awesome hair and outfits, but are not to be emulated.
Amen sister. Rage on. I do love Mad Men, partly because it reminds me how far we as women have come, and how awesome it is that my life does not represent Betty's.
A-freaking-men to all of it. I am totally pro-cooking and reasonably pro-cleaning (more or less) but I don't do it with heels on. And if I met my husband in a frilly skirt and red lipstick and stilettos each day I would hate myself. There is a reason most of our grandmothers no longer act that way--they did, they see that it is not necessary, and they have moved on. But that is just me. I am much more a function over form king of gal.
And I hope that you sat around in your bra shaking your head/looking at the camera like you were a baby bird who had never seen the sunlight before.
I'm going to say something sort of meanish, but oh well.
While I don't mind people who value the aesthetics of the 50's, I do think that some of the fetish-ification is weird.
I think some women adhere to the idea that because women were not ALLOWED to contrinute to society in the 50's, they don't HAVE to in 2009.
That might not make sense, but I tried.
I'm with Amy on loving the colors, the curls, and the pleats. The only thing in my kitchen that doesn't scream poor, starving student apartment right now is a shiny, bright red microwave and I love it! Hair swishing dude is awesome, and so is the blonde chick who seriously is going to need to see a chiropractor in a few years. I want to try some!!! Where do I find this magic hair product? And what are you feelings on mission reunions?
I was really hoping that the announcer would be the hair swisher/male model and then he would say, "And I use Moroccan Oil too." Or something like that.
I missed you at the reunion. I totally understand though.
I want to be a professional hair swisher now. Thanks for sharing :)
I am nodding in agreement. Complete agreement.
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