You is Sexy

Lord have mercy on me and mine.  I was going to just jot this down as a Facebook post but there’s a tiny bit of background that goes with it and well, this is my blog and I can write whatever the hell I want on it. 

When I first read The Help, I was really moved by the way Aibileen took the time to tell Mae Mobley, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”  I thought it was so powerful, especially for little girls who are too often only told things about how cute and pretty they are.  Yeah, try putting that on a résumé, princess.

So I went home and within a few days had cornered each of the onions to look them straight in the eye and tell them, “You are kind. You are smart. You are important.”  It was pretty profound.  It’s not something I tell them often but every now and again, maybe when I’m tucking one into bed, I remind them again.

I said it to Brutus just last night.  He looked up at me and, with the most serious look on his face said, “You are kind. You are smart. You are important. You are sexy.”

Brutus is now my favorite.

Now you’re wondering why my five year old is throwing around the word ‘sexy’.  There’s a little back story to this one too.  Last week a Victoria’s Secret commercial came on while we were all watching TV.  Awesome. 

Brutus asks his daddy, "Daddy, those girls aren’t as pretty as Mama are they?"  Bless his soul. Husband responds, "I… errrr…. umm… no, no… nobody’s as pretty as your mama."

This would have been fine and dandy except that Angel Baby and Flossy were sitting there.  They’re older and I know they’re starting to feel the affects of the media on their own self-evaluations.  And to sit there and pretend that Miss 32-DDD isn't 500 bazillion times hotter than me would be like lying.

So I stood up and, while doing a slow twirl around the living room said, “Oh, now, there’s no need to pretend like those ladies aren’t beautiful.  But Mama knows she’s beautiful too.  Your mama is one strong, smart, kind-hearted, powerful, intelligent, confident, fabulous and totally sexy woman.

To this, all of the onions turned 16 shades of red but I think that’s where the ‘sexy’ came from.

And hopefully an ounce of understanding that the value you place on yourself is what the rest of the world sees. 

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