The Alabama Housewife
I recently celebrated a birthday. It wasn’t an especially exciting one, other than I’m alive and healthy; it was just a regular birthday. It didn’t end in a zero and balloons didn’t fall from the ceiling. However, it marked something unique because I have now spent more years on this earth married than I ever did single. That’s quite a milestone for me.
Over 23 years with the same crazy, unpredictable, handsome man. We’ve had (and continue to have) quite a time together—including but not limited to: two amazing children, four churches, multiple houses, countless vacations, numerous pets and of course, trips to limitless Alabama football games and all these years down the line; here I sit....young yet old....thin-ish yet fat....scarred and wrinkled and marked from pregnancy and happier than anyone on this earth ever deserved to be. To this day l remain amazed that he picked me.
My face is un-botoxed. My lips are juvaderm free. My teeth have not been bleached. The birthmark under my nose that has driven me crazy for years remains un-lasered. The scars on my right cheek (one from a bicycle accident, one from something I’d rather not mention) stare at me every day. The lines on my forehead look like a road map. The rings around my neck make me look as though I’m related to a tree. Because of a college car wreck, I have one tooth that’s a shade or two darker than the others and another with a chip. They probably should be covered by veneers but aren’t.
All those things are easily “fixable” but I choose to leave them as they are. Each one is a reminder of the smiles and tears and laughter and concern that have led me to this crazy, happy, joyously authentic place in my life. And it all makes me insane, and thankful, and mad and deliriously content all at the same time.
My face certainly isn’t anything that will ever be on the cover of a magazine but it’s mine—and it’s real, and it’s natural, and it’s full of truth, and it reflects all the days God has allowed me to walk on this earth—and that’s quite enough for me.
The Inspire Us Essay
When I was chosen to participate in The Inspire Us Project I was rather surprised.
I was especially surprised I agreed to be photographed with absolutely no make-up at all!
In the end, it was an eye opening experience and the positive feedback I received was overwhelming. Cheers to all of the ladies out there who feel comfortable (or at least comfortable-ish) in their own skin.
I'm not a full member of your club quite yet but I'm working on it!