These Pink Poppies have a way of finding their way into my life when most needed. A few years ago, I was surrounded by guys all of the time. One day, one of these guys called me "dude". I was a little taken back. Clearly, I identify as a girl, even a girly girl at times despite my fascination with engines and technical types of things. Truth be told, I did not want to realize his motive behind calling me a "dude". I heard him say mean things about other people and just shut it down. My feelings were hurt and I was going through a tough time with my health and weight due to an autoimmune Endocrine disorder. Being called a "dude" knocked me through the floor as I had always identified my appearance as, at least passable, until 10 months prior and then 2 years prior to that. To top off his remark, I was impaired with the start of a migraine 20 minutes before driving home.
Did I mention I beat the disorder? Yeah, I did. Migraines are gone. Weight gain does not happen. Yep, I am lucky because not everyone does. That will not be my last health rodeo as, well, my DNA is breaking down as I type this blog post on this very tiny keyboard. I love life. It's good to me.
In my last job interview, I was asked how I manage discipline. My response included the statement, "You never know where someone sits, so I really try to recognize there may be invisible grief in another person." I fall short sometimes, but treat every opportunity to try to go the extra mile to express gratitude and kindness.
As an older adult, I feel as though it is a waste of time to fight unkind remarks or give them a second thought. In fact, this mid-sized town Midwestern gal does not remember a time in social history when unkind remarks multiplied and replenished on a millisecond rate as ubiquitously hurled across social media platforms. As a sanity check and detox, I try to find diversions and simple beauty in nature as a reminder that not every standard of beauty is artificial or contrived as is often established on billboards or airbrushed magazines.
Beauty in my eyes and heart are simple moments of inclusion by my friends, real Pink Poppies on the road, kind remarks, and genuine smiles.
Next week, Im going to start upper body strength with some cool friends. I have been blessed with a bunch of gal pals here locally that are my posse of Pink Poppies. I don't need to be a dude to feel included. I do like nice dudes, though.
Oh, I have pink "girly" workout gear.
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