Because of her

On Instagram, I recently posted pictures of Sweet P dressed for her first dance recital! She was so excited to be able to wear her tap and ballet shoes, dress in a fancy schmancy get up,  and…drum roll please…PUT ON MAKEUP! I think that was the best part for her – being able to do what her dad and I have vowed not to let her do. Wear makeup. She can only wear it in the house when she’s playing with the few items I’ve collected over the years.

And since she’d been working hard (most days) to learn her routines, smile, and follow directions, I decided to reward her by making a surprise visit to the nail salon. She’s an uber girly-girl (that likes to climb trees and sculpt play-doh) so I knew it would be a treat.

If you frequent nail salons, you know the first thing after signing in is to pick out the color. The color you’ll be staring at for the next two weeks wondering if you made the right decision. This is always such a task for me. Because my skin tone is dark brown, I usually go with a muted natural tone that you have to squint and look at closely to see. I want to make sure it’s classy and not gaudy. And I’ve always thought bright colors would clash with my complexion. The same goes for makeup and lip color, but that’s an entirely different post. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been bold enough to select polishes that have lots of sparkle. That’s as much ‘hutzpah’ as this old gal has. A sparkle and shine.

Well, Sweet P on the other hand, loves bright, blazing hues that pop at the slightest glance. I mean seriously, the brighter, the better for this kid. Every so often, when I have the time, she’ll con me into doing a rainbow of sorts on her tiny nails. Each of her five fingers has to be a different color. From green, to pink to blue, to magenta. We’ve done it. Even black.

Meanwhile, back at the nail salon…Sweet P picked out her color within 2 minutes. I, on the other hand needed some additional time to decide. She saw my struggle and decided to lend her expertise. She picked out a color very similar to hers, which was PIPING HOT PINK!

“Mommy! This would look great on you!” She was very excited to have found something before I did.

‘Honey, I don’t know about that. That’s a bit bright for me.”

“But bright looks gooood,” shaking her head up and down slowly. Emphasis on the ‘uhhhhd’.

“Let me think about it.” She was satisfied with my willingness to compromise.

A few minutes, several floor paces, and many bottles later, I had a color. As an ode to her first dance recital, I thought it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t share in the celebration. I married both of our ideas of eye-catching and sparkling, and decided on a popping pink to match her recital costume.

Despite the fact that I was self conscious about it, I did it for her. How can I preach loving the skin you’re in, adoring your color, and embracing your beauty if I couldn’t be so brave as to simply wear a certain color on my nails because I’ve always considered my complexion to be ‘too dark’? I am her first teacher for EVERYTHING. She mimics my every move, my every word. I can’t imagine hearing her say, “I’m too dark.”

So I’ll gladly wear a bright pink because of her. For her present self and her future self. And, actually, now that I think about it, I’m doing it for me too.

Are there things you’ve done for your children (or someone you love) that you never thought you’d do?