Yesterday in the cold Texas weather my family bundled up, parked, hiked, crossed the Eagle walking bridge over I35 and settled in to watch a UNT football game. One particular family member wasn’t all that pleased or impressed, but a little hot cocoa, dancing to the music and some IPhone fun made the experience worthwhile for our 4’ 3” family member. Oh the sacrifices we make for each other!
UNT lost. They finally woke up in the second half of the game and had us all biting our nails as when the clock had 1 second to go and 6 yards to make a touchdown there was hope in sight. Hope can be a powerful thing, but in this case it wasn’t enough. As much as I wanted them to score, it would have tied the game thus meaning overtime, thus meaning more time freezing my you know what off. This was pure THO weather!
As usual, the halftime show consisted of both schools entertaining the crowd with their marching band performance. The opposing team went first, not a bad performance, but hands down Marcus HS Band would blow them away. Regardless, they were good! I have witnessed how much practice and dedication marching band members put towards perfecting their skill and performances. In fact, I would say they probably practice more than any sport or school group that exists…rain or shine, cold or hot. They are truly to be commended.
During the halftime show there were two baton twirlers and a host of flag dancers. I was going to say very Texas, but that may very well be the norm. I didn’t experience this growing up in the Midwest! One of the baton twirlers had extra meat on her in comparison to today’s standards, I would fool myself if I claimed I didn’t notice and say she didn’t standout because of her size. Looking at the flag dancers, there were two young men out there amongst the crowd. Similarly to the baton twirler, this guy had some extra meat on his bones, an artsy hair style and carried himself differently than the majority of young men we see. Again, I noticed and mulled through the thoughts I had in my head.
In front of me were a couple of families who apparently knew each other as the “dads” were shooting the breeze and yelling at the refs in the same fashion. They were truly two peas in a pod. I don’t blame them for yelling at the refs, not that they could be heard or the refs cared, but there were some horrendous calls made at that game. I was sincerely concerned that the Denton Destroyer Mafia could be waiting for them after the game. No that line of the mafia doesn’t exist, I made it up, but it sounds good!
Where was I, yes, the two dads in front of me. When they noticed the baton twirler and the male flag dancer on the field they began to have a heyday with their commentary. I refuse to repeat what they said or waste the words on this page going into detail, just know they were not pleasant thoughts or words.
Here is the thing; did my mind begin to have some not so favorable thoughts when I noticed the same people on the field? Regrettably I need to admit, yes. But, my next thoughts were, wow what courage and dedication they must have to put themselves out there. They must have had some great role models in their lives who taught them to go for what they want regardless of what others might say or how they might react. I also thought, they are someone’s son and daughter, brother and sister, future wife and husband, future father and mother. They are no different than me! They are no different than my children! They deserve to shoot for the stars and go for it regardless what the outside package looks like.
I would be remiss if I didn’t have a full disclosure moment. When I was a teenager, starting about late sophomore year, two tectonic plates collided and formed the Grand Tetons on my chest! I was barely 5 feet tall and had a chest that did not match my body frame. Initially I didn’t let my personal mountain range get in the way, but over time it did! Keep in mind, this was prior to today’s modern day bra technology and internet, so I was left finding boulder holders locally in the nearby department stores. This was also during the time in print media that models were as flat as the ice on Lake Ellyn, meaning flat with occasionally a few bumps to be seen. Fortunately at the time the culture was heading into the grunge era with Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Sound Garden and such. I was able to get by with baggy shirts as that was the style for a while. Now when it came to dresses for functions and school dances that was a pain, figuratively and literally!
For me, fortunately I had parents who supported me and never questioned or pointed out the shadow my body casted. They loved and supported me where I was at. My friends accepted me and duh, guys accepted me probably for the wrong reasons, but after a while I didn’t accept myself.
Eventually it was a pain buying clothes as fads changed, finding bras that would fit and carrying bowling balls around on my chest. Not to mention the pain I started to have in my shoulder and back. I pulled away from sports as sports and my mountain range were not a pair made in heaven! I can’t imagine if I had family, friends, guys and the general public commenting on my body. In fact, who knows how I would have turned out! Now don’t get me wrong, I know behind closed doors people could have said things and boys probably talked…don’t want to even go there! The point, to my face, nothing, mostly nothing, was ever said!
I didn’t have to wait for Mother Nature to erode my mountains. Thanks to the modern medical world I was able to change my mountain range to a set of rolling hills. Makes me laugh as in today’s world women are paying to get what I had, well in a firmer form. Who would have known, instead of taking out student loans for college, maybe I could have sold my leftovers!
Point being in all of this, WE ALL have something we don’t like about ourselves or something that we are sensitive about. If you don’t, then I question if you are alive and human. How would you feel if it was visible to the outside world and people picked away at it? What if you heard someone commenting about your child’s soft spot? How would you feel if your remark was shared with the one it was about and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back?
I honestly and truly believe that we all wake up every morning with wanting the best; we want to have good intentions. But, we are human and imperfect, all of us! Let us look at the positives and the strengths of people and put our focus there. Hmmm…imagine all the possibilities if that were to happen for all!
RISE AND SHINE!
Rise and Shine Girl Blog 