A fan of myself

Sitting here randomly reading posts in my own blog. I am, after all, my biggest (only) fan. My blog posts are not meaningless, not to me. It is like flipping through a photo album, except the pictures are painted by words. Not all of the memories are good, but they are, all lessons. And they are all, uniquely mine.

Four eyes...in a shade of blue

When I was very young, school determined that I needed glasses...terribly. For whatever reason, I don't know why, Mom sent Dad and I off to get me glasses. I don't remember this, but my guess is, my Dad let me pick the ones I wanted. They were baby blue. I assume, my favorite color at that time. Mom was not happy. She mentioned it many times while I was growing up. I am not sure why, but she did not think blue eyeglasses were a good idea.

Much more recently, school determined that my grandson needed glasses. He came into the house tonight wearing them. The first thing I did, was tell him how much I liked them. Believe me, all children, that wear glasses, need to hear this. There is way too much ridicule where glasses are involved. The second thing I did was smile to myself, because his first glasses are blue.

Sugar and spice...but more than pink.

I am having a dilemma. Surprise! I know, right?

I raised two sons. I bought them boy toys. Not exclusively. My son had a doll. As in, baby doll. It was a Cabbage Patch knockoff. His grandmother made it, he wanted it, she gave it to him. I had a few objections, none of them being that my son wanted a doll. It had a creepy clown face...enough said. And it was, a black baby. I was afraid someone would take offense. How hard is that to imagine? Anyway, when we walked into Toys R Us, they headed straight for the boy toys. It never even occurred to me, back then, that the toys were divided, greatly, by gender.

I am wiser now.

And I have a granddaughter.

I bought her a baby doll for Christmas. It's perfect for a 17 month old. It's cuddly soft. Age safe, sewn on face. Pink. Machine washable. It was a natural. I guess that is why it bothered me. I don't want her toys defined by her gender. Or, more accurately, perhaps, I don't want what I select for her to be all gauzy and pink because she's a girl. I want to open more doors to her, then, she can decide what type of person she wants to be.

Yes, this Christmas, she will be getting a baby doll. I hope that she will love it. But she will also be getting a super hero costume for playing dress up. Yes, it's a skirt, there is nothing wrong with being a girl. But I want her to know, she can be a hero too.