Natural Curl

Each of us is made up of different identities. For me there is the girl of my youth, the teenager struggling with faith, the college student ready for anything, the wife and now mother. Each of these identities are still part of me. As we go through life our experiences and reactions to these experiences form who we become. For me I still am discovering myself and I try to remember the lessons of the past and what they have taught me.

As a girl I never quite knew what to do with my hair. It had a mind of its own. I spent a lot of time in a pony tail, just trying to avoid it. There were the days of perms, it was cut short, straightened, grown long, layered and then I just gave up. It’s amazing what happens when you just step back and relax. I had natural curl! No one had ever shown me how to treat curly hair and I had always tried combing it straight, which of course didn’t work. It was just a ball of frizz. Then one day I decided to embrace the curl. Wow, what a difference this made. I still straighten my hair, but I also am okay with wearing it curly.

And what does all this have to do with identity, you ask? Just like I had to learn to embrace my hair, and allow it to be styled the way it natural wanted to go, I have also had to learn to embrace myself. I told many people how I expected to have life figured out better by now, but the truth is I do have a lot figured out. I don’t need to live to please others, I know my Savior’s love for me, I still enjoy a good adventure, I am a wife and I am not less of a woman, because I show love and affection to my husband and I am a mother, who is learning her limits, when to say no, that it is okay to say yes and sometimes you just have to get dirty.

(Caitlyn took this picture and yes that is Ms. Daisy Diggs licking my toes. She has a thing for feet!)