What makes you beautiful

I was inspired by a quote from one of my favorite writers David Foster Wallace (and a One Direction song) to write this post:

“Worship your own body & beauty & sexual allure & you will always feel ugly. And when time & age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you.”

You see, I live in a postal code where plastic surgery is the expectation, not the exception. Where Botox parties involve poison & Champagne in equal parts. Sweet Sixteen is a rite of passage for girls to finally receive their nose/boob job AND a new car from daddy. Duck Face is not just a Friday night Facebook fallacy.

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, you go to a yoga class & wonder if silicone might actually help you with that elusive head stand. Gravity is no one’s friend when you’re upside down.

But then I remember: my breasts have fed two children. Six years post-lactation, swathed in black lace, they still inspire admiration & lust in men (and likely a few women). They are real & they are spectacular.

My nose is long & proudly Sicilian. The girl that was called “Lassie” in her youth has grown into a unique Italian beauty. Suck it, bitches.

My tummy is not taut. I have borne two children & I wear each stretch mark with pride & love. I often curse my kids for the trauma they have imposed on my body, but each blue line is a badge of honour.

Living in a town where everyone looks the same because of plastic surgery- nose jobs, lip injections, cheek implants, hair extensions, boob jobs & other surgeries you can’t even imagine – I’ve learned to celebrate my uniqueness. I don’t look like a living doll, nor do I think like one. I have two boys and I will raise them to appreciate the inner beauty & intellect of a woman, not to measure her worth by the size of her breasts. I have two nieces and I will inspire them to value their intelligence, strength and inner beauty over their outward appearance.

I want to plant in them the seeds of self confidence, poise & the courage to be themselves. Because that’s what makes you beautiful.