Whose Skin are You In?

I haven't felt very inspired lately - but in joking around about whether or not to write about my monstrous back side, I stumbled upon something.

Are you comfortable in your own skin?

I don't mean the outward skin that you wish you could change. By all means, if you want to make any outward appearance changes, I'm not faulting you for that!  But I mean the inner layers. Are you happy with what's inside?

Me circa 1974ish..

My long time friends might say I've always been confident about who I am. Growing up in a single-parent home, I didn't have a lot of the "extras". Designer jeans? Only if one of my friends outgrew hers and passed them onto me. Polo, Forenza, Izod? Nope. Not me. But it never really bothered me. (I joke that we were too poor to keep up with anyone...let alone the Joneses. And yet I had everything I ever needed.)

There were times when I didn't feel as pretty as someone. Or times when I liked a boy but would never have told a soul because I was scared he'd find out and run the other direction. But I think that's just all part of normal growing up. Those times didn't define me. And now, 20+ years later, those boys I didn't date are my "go to" guys. I don't have any weird baggage to carry into our adult relationships. And those girls that were prettier than me? Some of them still probably could win a beauty contest. But I don't base my appearance on what they look like anymore.

I'd say my confidence has always come from within. The core values I learned at church. I knew that God loved me and that His plan was all that mattered. And no matter how my social standing, wardrobe or hairstyle may have evolved over the last 40 years (gulp).......I, like Popeye, am who I am. 

I'm still that girl from Hereford, Texas who loves a good barn dance and feels just as comfortable at a rodeo as I do at the theater. I may not be the skinniest, cutest girl on the block - but I'm the same girl who speaks her mind and doesn't apologize for her actions. I still strive to be a better person, leave the world a better place and love my husband & children with every ounce of my being.



My skin is right where I belong. How about yours??