I Earned Them!

As my son was nursing, and pinching my belly rolls, I softly mumbled, "Gee thanks, kid. For pinching my fat!"

Do you know what my daughter said to me? In all of her three year old innocent wisdom?

She said, "But mom! I love your soft belly!"

And it was in that moment that my eyes were truly opened!

I recently saw this post over on Jessica Lynn's blog -- about how she earned her stripes.

It's raw. Real. And completely beautiful. And honestly -- it really hit deep for me. I, too, earned my stripes. Twice in fact. And for the longest time, had a hard time dealing with it.

I was never a size two. Never the magazine's version of perfection. But I was a lot smaller than I am now. And tighter. Those were my college years.

And then I had two children.

My skin got a little looser. My mid-section a lot softer. And covered in faint lines. Lines that once made me wince when looking at them. Until I realized ... if I took away those lines, I would be taking away the biggest part of my life story.

You see -- those lines are there because of my two beautiful babies. Because I grew and nurtured their tiny bodies until they were ready to grace us with their presence. And even after, as I nursed and then weaned, and nursed them again, my breasts, too, began to resemble my belly.

Soft. Misshapen. Striped.

And now?!

Now I am okay with that. Even at 26 years old. I'm okay with the fact that I will never have a tight, tiny body.

I own that.

Why?

Because my children love me -- soft, like a pillow they can lay upon and tell their wildest dreams and tales. Striped ... marked ... the story of their growth written out like the pages of a history book. A book they will always be able to look at and know:

This was their beginning!

So thank-you, Jessica! Thank you for helping me to remember that its more than okay to bare our stripes with pride. For we, too, earned those stripes!