"your shirt is wet"

or: "did you know you sweat profusely under your arms?"
(thanks, Hannah, but at least I smell good)

Before anyone mistakes the tone of this post to be mad or hurt, I have long since gotten used to children's honesty, and instead of being embarrassed like I might have been three years ago, I wholeheartedly laughed. As it so happens, this occurred at an interesting time. Lately I have been learning to love myself as much as my family and significant other do, trying to see through my flaws and accept them as a part of me that makes me Christina Tidmore.

If I end this entry without giving credit where credit is due, I'll kick myself, so I must say that it is thanks to Charlotte that I learned to love all the parts of me that I thought were weird. One day after band practice, in the hot sun for 3 1/2 hours, Charlotte, who'd worn a purple shirt, had dark spots under her arms, as did I (but, as usual, tried to draw as little attention as possible to them). I don't remember how it even came up, but soon Laura and other flute players were laughing with Charlotte about it. Now a picture of Charlotte holding up her arm while laughing is on Facebook. From that day forward, I learned to embrace and love not only my glands that produce a sometimes-excessive amount of sweat that shows up on a shirt any color other than white (yes, even black - it's just a darker shade than the fabric!).

So, Hannah, your honesty could not have come at a better time, even topping the eight-year-old at WJC during my work-study senior year who said, "Are you going to have a baby?" and poked my stomach (I'll admit, I have a tummy, but I'm learning to love it). As long as I wear my Degree Shower Fresh-scented deodorant, I think you and I will be just fine.

"It's because we're so trapped in our culture, in the being of being human on this planet with the brains we have, and the same two arms and legs everybody has. We're so trapped that any way we could imagine to escape would be just another part of the trap. Anything we want, we're trained to want."
-Chuck Palahniuk