A Birthday Celebration (for the girls!)
Maggie and Tuck are celebrating their birthdays this month and want to share their joy with you (and obviously their sense of humor).
As we celebrate our “50″ years we find ourselves reflecting, laughing and crying about how we were raised and, the many patterns ingrained into our psyche. Part of our healing and evolving includes sharing our “mother” stories and laughing with our girlfriends about the many ways we were instructed and molded into being “the women we are today”.
I don’t know about you guys but my instructions were to be quiet, polite, sit still and not embarrass my family. Thank God my mom wasn’t stuck on my being prissy or frilly. That really might have put me over the edge. She was, however definitely insistent on Southern Social Graces. What saved me I say was that she was also a fiercely independent Southern woman. That was probably the first crack in the “Self Woman” mold.
So… here we are… me and Maggie. Aren’t we cute? (No frills or priss here… just charm and grace?!?) This was actually one of the trillion of times that we were dressed in exactly the same clothes. We still find that we do it today!! And, poor Paige…she didn’t have a chance. The minute she came along we became triplets. And, then there was Hunt…he was basically just suppose to stand there, look charming and act “as if” he loved his 3 sisters.
I mean…look at this….would you be able to find your individual sense of identity always “being” like your sisters? (Check out just how excited Maggie and I are in the 2nd photo). All in all I wouldn’t trade my 53 years with this family for anything in the world. I love my life and I love my “mother stories”. We all have them, right? Do any of those pictures bring back memories for you? How about any of these statements? Do they sound familiar to you or maybe you have your own?
“Remember who you are and what you do reflects on your brother and sisters.”
“As long as you live under my roof, you’ll do it my way.”
“You don’t just date one of them. Keep them all guessing. Play the field. Lead them on.”
“You cannot go out of the house looking like that. Who do you think you are?”
(Great questions –huh?)
What is the most outrageous thing you remember being told by your mother that was suppose to mold you into the “perfect, graceful, social, charming, proper and polite woman of today. And, more importantly did it work for you? Are you sharing these “timeless tips” with your children and with your daughters? Or did you break out of that mold? Did you find your own identity and leave the stereotypes in the dust ?
Surely we can’t be the only women who had to wear anklets, bobby socks and crinolines through the sixth and seventh grade…or can we?“
I invite you to post your comments and your own story here.
Trackback URL for this post: http://therebelbelle.com/RebelBelleBlog/self-expression-stories/a-birthday-celebration-for-the-girls/trackback/