Do you have a secret? As a parent, we keep many things to ourselves as we see things evolving physically or what we battle with mentally. We keep our emotions and feelings about how we look hidden from our children and those around us. At this age, some of us may be experiencing an early midlife crisis. I recently read somewhere that signs of a midlife crisis could be getting tattoos, finding ways to grow or change our hair, and even taking daily probiotics. Well, at this very moment, I want you to yell to the top of your lungs with these words “WHO CARES!!!” Do you boo-boo! Just don’t lose control. And moms aren’t the only ones that have secrets. I see some men/dads trying to live out their best lives and maintain their youth as well. Some of us are guilty of parent secrets like slipping veggies into your child’s smoothie, sneaking into the bathroom to cry or watch a video on our phone in peace, eating fast food in the car without the kids knowing, or even staying up late to play video games without disturbance.
Today, I’m letting a couple cats out of the bag.
One secret that I’ve been harboring is...on June 10, 2019, just a few days after moving to California, big belly and all, I look in the mirror and what do I see? A curly gray hair looking at me. I don’t use profanity but I had to shout “Dang Nabbit! Mother Fiesta! Cali is making me old already.” And the way it grew in was right in the center of my Eddie, like a unicorn. Just my luck. I called my mom to tell her, thinking I would get some empathy or relatable words. No ma’am. She laughed and said “I didn’t get gray hair until a little while after I became a grandma just a few years ago”. Thanks a lot Ma! I found myself looking more closely at celebrity pics to see if they had any sprouts but no such luck. However, my self-esteem is extra high now after seeing everyone roughing it and showing their true natural state during quarantine. Now, I’ll embrace my unicorn. Platinum pony.
My other mom secret was a recent discovery. I dropped a piece of cracker in my shirt and was able to find it quickly. I finally have cleavage! Now of course with the help of Victoria Secret, everyone has the opportunity to “boost their assistants”, but to have it occur naturally is a dream come true lol. The words of the Color Purple “all my life...”, came to mind during this experience. Not only are they not mad at each other any longer and now married, but I’m able to put items in my bra and they stay there. I used to always see folks put money, cards, and even cell phones in their brassiere and wonder “Wow, how’d they do that? What a blessing!” as I tucked my dollars in my sock. In high school, I would try that and things would be falling out like crazy all over the place lol. Now, I do it at least once a week, like I’m cool, especially when I don’t have enough hands to carry things and hold Miles at the same time.
Well I’ve poured out just a couple of my hidden gems and hope that you feel better about letting your guard down as well and see the positives in what you may initially view as negative. Life happens. Grow grateful with age. God bless!
Love,
Yo! Mama Mesh
