Burning the Before Picture

I don’t know about you other mamas out there, but this summer kicked. my. butt.

In addition to dealing with summertime boredom, shuffling kids to and from summer camps in an attempt to alleviate that boredom, and the HEAT, we were also attempting to process emotions related to my father’s death in May.

Little children can have some BIG emotions, y’all.

So we did a lot of talking, a lot of boundary-setting, a lot of compromising… and apparently a lot of eating bc when I stepped on the scale in July, I was livid.

Like WHERE did the weight come from? Surely it must be mostly water retention due to all this heat!

Then I thought about food choices, and how I was dealing with the stress of emotionally managing FOUR children AND myself AND my husband, and I was honestly happy the number wasn’t any higher.

So, when the kids started school, Mama decided to take her own first day of school pictures — a set of BEFORE pictures to use for a comparison for when she got to her AFTER.

Then, that Mama (y’all she’s me. I don’t know why I’m talking in the 3rd person, but just so we’re clear, it’s me) got MAD allll over again. That Mama really looked at that picture of herself in leggings a size she only dreamed of two years ago. She looked at her tummy flab and remembered the FOUR babies who grew in there and stretched her skin to the max. She looked at her arms that can STILL CARRY her second-grader if she asks. She looked at her legs that help her to run after her children outside when they’re playing. That Mama looked at her saggy breasts and remembered how they tried their best to feed FOUR babies. That Mama looked herself in her tired eyes and remembered ALL that she shouldered and carried emotionally for her family for two months.

And that Mama cussed. She said some not nice words about that before picture. She even got kinda feministic about it and said some not nice words about “the establishment.” Like a crazy person she YELLED THAT INTO HER MIRROR!

Forget the before picture. BURN IT DOWN! Or own that picture as your spectacular NOW.

Because you ARE SPECTACULAR.

RIGHT.

NOW.