Cast off those rags!!!!

I am about to make a bold statement, dear readers, prepare yourselves.

I pledge, from this day forward, I will not wear my Yankee hat or yoga pants after 10:00am on weekdays.

Well, actually, I made this pledge, to myself, two weeks ago, but I didn't want to write about it until I had taken it out for a test drive. I know. Wasn't I the one who had written so many times about accepting my lot in life as the haggard mother of three with no time for grooming? Yes, I was. Why this radical change, you ask? Well, after I had the annual Return to school Mini-breakdown, around mid-September, I realized part of what makes me so miserable in the fall is the fact that throwing on a tank top and shorts is no longer an option, and I constantly feel disheveled in my athletic gear. I decided, with Little Man turning four, I had had enough, and this would be the year I stop envying those put together women at school drop off and become one of them. The would be the year I got my "me-ness" back.

So I went shopping. I bought some new khakis and jeans, some cotton tops with cute details. Nothing too nuts. I bought a lot from Land's End Canvas, who market a J.Crew-type wardrobe, not the high-waisted slacks and shapeless twinsets of their parent company. I bought some scarves to jazz things up a bit, and finally invested in a cute pair of flats. I permit myself to throw on the old uniform in the mornings, when I'm trying to get the kids out the door, but once I return from dropping Little Man, the bangs get blown out, I throw on a coat of mascara and a pair of pants that actually have a button and zipper. Every single day. Not just on the days I have school board meetings or doctor's appointments.

The change has been miraculous. I feel like a real person. I thought my old, athletic gear was liberating me from the worry of putting myself together, but in reality, it was sending a different message to the world and, more importantly, to my psyche. It said, "I don't matter." I never thought I would fall into the category of women who put themselves last, I mean, I go on girls' weekends and make time to work out every day (at this point B would point out that I do it before sunrise, so it doesn't exactly qualify as quality "me time") Isn't "putting everyone else first" what all those moms on The Biggest Loser use as their excuse? But by not even giving myself the basics, twenty minutes to get myself dressed each day, I was giving away a part of myself that I damn well want back.

I still marvel at those moms who have their hair blown out, or even down, and wear clothes that definitely look "dry clean only", but now I get why they make the effort. it puts a little pep in your step, that has nothing to do with whether someone pooped in the potty or got an A on their counties of New Jersey quiz*. It only has to do with you and how you feel about yourself.

There are some glitches in the system, which I have not worked out yet. For example, how do I do laundry and clean out the closets wearing khakis, or finger paint with Little Man wearing a drape-y cardigan? So I have had to invent a sort of "house coat" outfit. I usually keep on the top I'm wearing and throw on the ol' yogas. And whatever happened to housecoats, by the way? Or non-ironic womens' aprons? I plan on bringing both back. It can be very frustrating for me to have H see me in those pants upon his return home, when I had been wearing really cute Lucky jeans two hours prior. It would be so handy to whip off whatever covering garment I have on and have him see my ensemble, which, to be fair, I'd probably have to point out since my sweet guy digs me in whatever I'm wearing, and wouldn't notice. But then, what choice does he have?

So fellow athletically-clad-but-have-no-intentions-of-working-out-in-the-forseeable-future mothers, hear my cry! You deserve twenty minutes to beautify yourself! You deserve to wear clothes that couldn't double as pajamas in a pinch! You deserve to look at yourself in the mirror and instead of resignedly sighing, think to yourself, "I look cute today." Because you are not just someone's mother, and the work horse that keeps this grist mill turning, you are you. Awesome you.

And don't you forget it, 'cause ain't nobody else gonna remind you, but you.

*Between my non-native status and my complete lack of geographic knowledge, I am NO help at all. When #1 asked where our county is I said, "Um, near the top somewhere?"