skin deep

So it's day 2 of AcademiChic's Dress Your Best week for me. With the start of this project, the Chic's encouraged everyone to list your 5 best/favorite body parts. Well, this is actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. (Especially since I can't list things like my liver, fingernails, the backs of my knees.) It's way easier for me to think of 5 (or 10...) body parts that I would like to change rather than to think about 5 things that I'm so glad that I have. So I started to think about the parts of my body that I take for granted, perhaps things that I never think of because they don't cause problems. The good parts seem to be taken for granted because let's face it, if you don't have to work at something you're not going to. But when I started to write down my list, one body part really stuck out to me and that is my skin. I know that this probably seems left field and you are probably screaming "skin isn't a body part! give me an arm!" But my dears, it so is. As the largest organ on my body and the one thing that keeps my guts from falling out, my skin is a fabulous thing.

Growing up, I never understood the comment of "Oh, I could never wear that color" in reference to something that I was wearing. I always thought it was strange that people compartmentalize colors when it came to their wardrobe perhaps because of their own coloring. (Like red heads shouldn't wear red or orange, or blondes should only wear light blue. You know that way of thinking.) But then I realized that it wasn't necessarily a reckless comment on my outrageously orange blouse -- it was a compliment. Because of my olive skin tone, I don't have to worry about wearing certain colors or not wearing certain colors. I can throw on yellow, green, blues, reds, whites, blacks, oranges -- with no trouble at all.

I've also learned that taking care of my skin is the best thing I can do. Finally after 25 years I've realized that I don't have to be melanoma-tan every summer. I've learned to take care of my skin, to not pick at pimples, to drink lots of water and to wear sunscreen. I've learned that if you take care of it, it will make you look fresh, dewey and will get you carded at a bar every time.

I love each freckle that's appeared, every scar that tells a story and every wrinkle that shows another year of my life thats been lived. My skin is a blank canvas to be painted with the endless colors of my wardrobe and that is something I will never take for granted.



P.S. -- I have to admit I am trying to squash the feelings of pompousness and vanity. I feel so strange talking about myself in this tone of voice (positive, non self-depricating, possibly normal etc.) I so hope these posts don't come off as anything other than the awkward 13 year old Kendi that lives inside of my head coming into her own as a 25 year old woman. This has been such a stretch for me, in a good way, but it's been hard to not use humor to cover up a lumpy thigh or oddly shaped arm. So if you could all leave comments with things that you love about yourselves that would make me feel a lot better and I could stop hyperventilating into this paper bag. Thank you.