Age and Fashion Tolerance

Once upon a time I made fun of ladies like me. The women who came into the store where I worked in sweatpants, with messy hair and mascara under their eyes. "I just needed to run in for a few things" they would say, and in my mind I was saying "There ain't no way I am ever gonna leave the house looking like that!" Yeah well, never say never.

A few mornings a week I take Jayden to daycare/preschool after Ryann gets on the bus. I see no need to shower and get pretty before performing this task. I will brush my teeth and try to arrange my hair so it's not standing straight up, but other than that I don't feel that anything more is necessary. I am not trying to impress anyone. This wouldn't be so bad if Jayden's school was the only place I went. Because honestly I'm really not the only Mom there that looks like they walked off of Glamour magazine's "Don't" page. At least I usually have jeans on and not Christmas themed pajama bottoms. Unfortunately in addition to my fashion ignorance I also have a serious Starbucks addiction and I usually "run in" to the local Target for my "fix" before returning home. And while I may have jeans on they are usually joined by my Hot Pink fuzzy Crocs, the shirt I slept in, and a coat to cover up the fact that I am not supported in a certain area. Yeah. Sexy.

I remember the first time I went to the movies in sweats. I had given birth to my first child a few weeks earlier and I HAD to get the hell out of the house. It was early November and my clothing choices were limited so I wore the biggest sweatshirt I owned and sweatpants. I also wore my Nikes in case anyone wanted to assume I had just come from working out. I sat in the theater, approximately six weeks post partum and wondered "What the hell have I become?" Sure, growing up I didn't read Vogue in eighth grade like my BFF Jenny. I was more concerned with getting Kirk Cameron to marry me than perfecting eyeshadow application in that trendy pink-yellow-blue combination. But I did have some standards. I had some level of what I felt was acceptable. But as a new mother just happy to be free to watch Ben Affleck for two hours, and now as a mother of two trying to get everyone where they need to be so I can get on with my day, I couldn't care less.

OK, I'll admit I do care what one person thinks. Someone who loves me unconditionally but does have their own standards about what is acceptable. Someone who feels awesome in the perfect outfit. So when Jayden asks "Mom, why are you wearing your pajamas to my school?" I have to revisit Stacy's book of do's and don'ts and promise my five year old I will never wear sweats to drop her off again.