Small minded judgments... Apparently they still exist...

Good morning! It's been a while since I've grabbed this machine this early with the absolute will to write but this morning I had some pretty good motivation. Let me start by explaining a few things in MY OPINION... I believe that a persons body is there own canvas in a way... Think about it.. You wear the clothes YOU like.. the shoes YOU like.. you wear your hair the way YOU like.. makeup, jewelry, accessories, perfumes, lotions and even tattoos. It is YOUR canvas that you are given and yes, it's the ONLY one you get so why would you not make it EXACTLY what you want? Does that mean that EVERYONE should wear the same thing with the same hairstyle and same shoes..? Probably not... We have a VARIETY and though some use more of it than others, there's no WRONG way to decorate your canvas! That being said... let me tell you a little about MINE before I dive into the small minded judgment thing... I stand at 5'2" WITHOUT shoes.. I have blonde hair with darker brown underneath (yes, my choice) that is either pulled up off my neck or straightened, I have 3 ear piercings on one side and 4 on the other along with a belly ring and a tiny nose stud, I don't have a ton of freckles, I like my nails somewhat long and if they're not by themselves then sometimes I have fake ones on, I don't go crazy with makeup, (usually neutral eye shadows with a smoky look and some eyeliner) I usually dress in comfy casual stuff unless I'm going out or doing something, and yes... I have a few tattoos.. Let me tell you about a few.. The ones you can SEE if you're looking is a cross on the inside of my left wrist, "Believe" is on the inside of the right wrist and barely poking out of a shirt on my right collar bone are the last few small letters to my "Perfectly imperfect" one. I also have an ankle bracelet tattoo with three pink heart charms dangling from it with the initials of my three daughters in them which you can see when I wear skirts, shorts, etc. So ok.. From those descriptions... Do I seem like an axe murderer? A crazy person? Would you see me as distasteful or disrespectful? Would my tattoos offend you? (Yeah, that's my focus if you didn't pick that up!) Ok, so there may be a few people who are all "Your body is a temple..." and "you're desecrating your body..." and I can't help those people. All I can say is one, if I had an ACTUAL temple, I wouldn't hesitate to decorate THAT and two.. how could it be desecration if it's what I want? It's not like I'm making YOU walk around in my skin! So now you know MY views on that. Do I think that what you look like or how you're decorated tells me how you act or what kind of person you are? NO! Remember the whole book cover scenario... yeah.. Ok. With ALL THAT being said... Let's get to the story that fueled this thing in the first place...

It all happened a long, long time ago.... Not really, it was yesterday... :)
The day BEFORE yesterday I had a friend stop over for dinner. I love this girl. She is one of my closest friends. Anyway, we had talked about her one day having a baby and she was scrambling through ideas of who would watch the baby while she worked or whatever since the father or someday father anyway, worked crazy hours too. She told me about all kinds of options she had that were actually limited and that she didn't feel comfortable with a daycare.. I sat and listened as she told me all of this and just smiled. When she was done, I had simply asked "Have you ever thought about asking.. I don't know... me? I mean I'm the closest person to your work, I already HAVE all the baby stuff..." She smiled and told me that she had thought about me a million times but would never think to ask because she didn't want to "inconvenience" me. (One day she'll know that once you have kids.. convenience is a thing of the past!) :) I told her it was an option for her to consider if she wanted to or ever needed to. It wouldn't hurt my feelings either way! She thanked me and told me she trusted me and everything then she had to go. Even as hypothetical situations go, I just knew she would say something to her man about the whole thing... To get one thing out of the way.. He and I have never been "on the same page" about... well.. anything in the few years I've known both of them.. Well more like never been in the same book let alone the same library.. Yeah.. And it's not like I've ever been "mean" to him or anything I just think.. differently? I don't know.. Living in the south for the past few years I've noticed quite a few "traditional" thinking people... which is fine, to each their own. However, my life is lived the way I want to live it, not the way I think it should be lived in approval of someone else... Moving on.. So apparently they had their talk on the could one day be situation and when she told me about it yesterday.. this is how it went..
"He said he would be fine with it but there's just one thing that he's not comfortable with (and she told me she couldn't help but laugh at what he said) and that's her having so many tattoos." She said she laughed and asked what that had to do with anything because one, it would be a BABY and two, by the time the possible child was old enough to get one, they wouldn't listen to him and would more than likely go get one! I told her I couldn't really take judgment that seriously from someone who willingly wears bow ties and suspenders and we laughed but still.. In a very small weird way it pinged me just a little... Then I thought about him.. There are people in his family who went through total slut phases where they would be with guys left and right and get plastered all the time (before they found God of course...) and they don't have tattoos... A brother or something who is younger than him and has already got two women pregnant... He doesn't have tattoos either... and the list goes on... So I thought of all those crazy wild people doing their crazy wild stuff inkless... and yet he has some problem with MY tattoos...? I am an incredible individual... I am happily married for almost 11 years now to my high school sweetheart... I have three happy, healthy, smart, beautiful, talented, wonderful daughters with my husband... I have a business I started myself... I'm an awesome friend... I help people... I don't let negative people ruin my life... I've never been arrested... I pay all my bills... So.. My life and me myself are pretty amazing.. and I tried to figure out what his deal would be with my tattoos and the ability they must have to hinder my performance as a mother.. I help my kids with homework, I've taught them all to read, write, and share, they have excellent manners, we play games and sports, we shop, we talk, we laugh... My kids are happy and I will most definitely take credit for that. They also know that you don't judge someone by what they look like, what they wear, how they talk, or even TATTOOS they have. My most recent ones are the third heart for my now five month old third daughter and the "Perfectly Imperfect". The last one means a lot to me AND my girls because they also know that there is no perfect person ANYWHERE. Period. Real people aren't perfect and perfect people aren't real which apparently is a VERY good lesson to have taught them considering there are still those few small minded people with a lot to say even if they have don't have a reason to say it. One day, he and I will have a similar conversation about all this because I am very curious.. Maybe there's nothing else "wrong with me" that he can use to fault me? Who knows? Sadly not everyone see's things with their eyes open and if that doesn't make sense, I don't know what to tell you! I (even if I can't ACTUALLY do it) am declaring this day the new "Love your canvas!" Day! Instead of conforming to everyone's "perfect ideas", lets celebrate everything you've got going on with your canvas! A tee shirt with a hole in it? YES! A sideways pony tail? SURE! A business suit with flip flops? WHY NOT! and even... TATTOOS! You are an amazing artist and there's nothing on your canvas that you didn't put there yourself! Remember keep your eyes and minds open and if you can't or don't want to, then keep your mouths shut!!! Happy Thursday everybody!! ;) -Super Mom