Guest Post: Beauty Queen
Happy March!
Layne is back with us for another guest post. Like always, it's comical, well written and filled with truth. Please read it, and comment!
Layne is back with us for another guest post. Like always, it's comical, well written and filled with truth. Please read it, and comment!
Maybe, once upon a time, we all wanted to be That Girl. The one
with the mile-long legs, the infectious smile, the eyes that sparkle like two
freaking sapphires or rubies or whatever. The Popular One.
The girl with the wardrobe of a magazine model and the hair of a
Greek goddess.
The girl with the flawless skin, the perky personality. The perky
well, everything.
All the boys chased her in high school and all the jobs chased
her after university.
People love her just for being her. She doesn’t
have to try-she just naturally is. All that.
We mumble.
We grumble.
And we say it’s all a bunch of bull.
Crap.
We declare it’s what on the inside that counts, the
heart that matters, the character that rises to the
tip
top.
But as we watch the masses fawn over our Ms.
Popular-Has-it-All-Together, it’s hard not to wonder if that’s
how this life really works.
Because I have to say- sometimes it just sucks being The Nice
Girl, the one whose personality makes her cute, the one that all the
boys only notice to talk to about their girl Problems. I know because I was
That Girl. This second one.
When I was little my mum told me I was “healthy, not
skinny.” So I lived for years thinking I was a fatty. And then I
really was a fatty, but that’s a story for another time.
When I was in high school, my best guy mate told me that guys
only looked at me because of my hair and my boobs-my legs were merely “okay” and
nothing else, including my face, was worth noting. The thing is, he wasn’t
even trying to be mean.
So there I was, this personality-rich, nice curls, chubby girl
going around town in overalls for years on end, waiting for somebody to tell me
my worth or some boy to tell me I was pretty.
It was a long road going nowhere. And it took me a long time to
realize I could write my own version of this story.
All this ranting is going somewhere, I promise, and here it is. I
dare say it-as a culture, we are obsessed with appearance.
We want to see photos of pretty people, watch beauty on our flat
screens, read through others’ pristine lives on their blogs.
Even last night, as I snuggled into the depths of my man, warmed
by his scent, the blanket and the night, I watched the actress giggle onscreen
and I rolled my eyes. She’s gotten so pudgy in her older
years and look at those wrinkles ‘neath her eyes.
My
word.
Who do I think I am?
Ascribing to one creed and wholly living in another.
It’s funny because the local newspaper
just did a feature story on me.
Little
‘ole
me!
And in it I talk about my personal photography-all the stuff I do
behind the scenes.
Just because I can.
It turns out that most of that just-for-fun stuff is just girls
playing dress up. Girls laughing and being them, me simply capturing the
essence of them.
Because I look into the eyes of all these girls around me and
maybe I don’t see them wanting to be That Girl in high school anymore,
but I do see girls everywhere, with lingering questions in their eyes.
Will he like me for being me.
Am I good enough.
Am I skinny enough.
Am I pretty enough.
Am I enough.
AmIenoughAmIenoughAmIenough.
And I am here to declare an emphatic, resounding YES.
If I-with more acne at 30 than at 20, stretch marks galore and
saggy, well, almost
everything-am enough, then you are too.
I embrace the essence of me-ness and fight to not compare
my beauty or my flaws to anything or anyone else’s.
Yes, my sweet husband tells me I’m beautiful one-or
four-times a week.
But even when he doesn’t, I will keep
my chin up and know who I am, what I possess. He doesn’t define me. No
other soul does.
I am more than what anyone says.
I am worth more than others’ opinions.
You are too.
Because yeah, we aren’t in high school anymore and thank
goodness for that.
Because we “everyday girls”-we are beautiful
too.
Because this mucky, wonderful mess of a life of mine has gotten
better with every decade, even with the added smile lines.
Because beauty, the kind that’s on the inside,
really does shine out, out, OUT for all to see.
One of my favorite responses ever, came from a boudoir client and
went something like this: “holy $#!+…I had NO idea I
could look like that! THANK YOU! My husband’s
jaw will need lifting….”
On the inside; on the outside. Sometimes we all just need a
mirror or a roll of 35mm to show someone else what we’ve seen all along.
Layne lives in southern Ontario with her husband Jonathan where they have been running their media company since October 2011.
She graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in photojournalism. She interned at newspapers in Indiana and Michigan and has volunteered for PhotogenX since 2009.
Layne co-authored “Act Here. Love Now.,” a culmination of stories, photos and practical ways to impact your own community, city and world. “Act Here. Love Now.” was a finalist in the Multicultural Non-Fiction and Current Events/Social Change categories in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Their business was recently featured on Wedding Chicks, one of the premiere wedding planning sites.
She graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in photojournalism. She interned at newspapers in Indiana and Michigan and has volunteered for PhotogenX since 2009.
Layne co-authored “Act Here. Love Now.,” a culmination of stories, photos and practical ways to impact your own community, city and world. “Act Here. Love Now.” was a finalist in the Multicultural Non-Fiction and Current Events/Social Change categories in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Their business was recently featured on Wedding Chicks, one of the premiere wedding planning sites.
thanks for sharing LBG.
ReplyDelete:)
xoxo.
agh, love it. that laynie.
ReplyDeleteyou used to be my weight-was that your fatty period?! lol
ReplyDeleteyou are GORGE! you are the sparkly eyed beaut.!!
-RFxo
Laynie, you are actually amazing.
ReplyDeleteLayne Beckner Greene Grime,
ReplyDeleteYou.
Are.
Beautiful.
You always have been!
I have always loved your gorgeous face!
I am so sorry for not telling you that when we were teenagers - you know, my own teenage self-loathing got in the way - my boring straight hair, my flat chest....
We rocked the overalls. I even rocked mine with braided pigtails. It was the '90s, and we were cool :)