I'm Just a Girl

Everyone talks about today's modern woman having everything, yet most people seem to define "everything" as working outside the home and having a family. Professional lives and personal lives are *starting* to coexist (but don't tell me, or any other woman with SIX WEEKS of possibly paid child-rearing leave, that 'working mother' is a universally accepted notion), which is great. But isn't that limiting? "Having it all" constitutes working for a paycheck while maintaining a happy household? Child + out-of-the-home career = everything?

Well, I love my job, and I'm kind of fond of my kid, too. But the idea of working for money and working for your family, while both rewarding, leave many holes in the overall fabric of life. Isn't there more to life than work?

Women are expected to have (or provide...) fun for their lovers, looking fit and healthy and beautiful at all hours of the day. To which I say...poor, poor Brian.

This is my favorite sleep shirt. It's cotton, oversized, and splashed with a fart joke. THIS is what I give my husband at bedtime. (And as a testament to him, he doesn't bat an eye and, God knows why, still finds me desirable.) 

On top of that, no, I don't like the way I look. I wish I was thinner and taller and beautiful, because really, isn't that having it all? (No, by the way.) But again, I cry foul. When I look in the mirror, I don't jump for joy (and if you do -- weird!). I do, however, sometimes feel extremely proud that I have a loving family, a fulfilling job, and a constant desire to make a better life for me and my family. There's a difference between being unhappy (I'm generally not) and wanting the best for yourself and your loved ones (always). So if we're looking at "having it all," can't we get the job...

...the family...

...the time for ourselves, whether alone or with friends...

...and any other damn whim we wish to indulge?!

Whether intense or irreverent, heavy or frothy, I contend that it truly is okay to seek everything you desire in life. For myself, yes, I do see it as a bit indulgent. But you see, there's this girl I know...

And it's my goal for her to know that, whatever it specifically entails: she can have - and she deserves - everything.