I had to go to picture day today for school and since my two year old would probably freak out, it was suggested that I bring his big brother to calm him down.  The pictures went great but before I left I started to panic.

Well dressed moms.

I took my shower last night and slept on wet hair, which I hate to do.  I don’t normally get frizzy hair but I’m not sure what I got when I looked in the mirror.  Frantic, I put on a bit of make up (not realizing that I needed to dress for prom) and walked into my closet.

I have a massively huge closet.  Big enough to turn into a bedroom.  This closet is filled with shit I never wear.  I actually went through it a month ago and cleared out what I thought was half of it.  I got rid of my fat pants, because as a Wii Mommy, I couldn’t possibly ever have a need for those.

I got rid of the stained, ripped and totally inappropriate clothing I’ve had since I was in my twenties and tossed out the clothes I kept as a courtesy from people that gave them to me as a gift.

I used to refuse to wear sweats.  No tee shirts, no yoga pants.  Jeans and a hot top or a dress.  That’s my style.  I still live in dresses in the summer, but they’re not all attractive ones, they’re ones that get me through the heat of summer in the south.

So today, in a rush to get both boys into matching outfits, I figured yoga pants would work.  I think I look hot in yoga pants because I like my butt (usually).  My son starts calling, “MOM” so I end up just putting on a bra (an achievement for me but great cell phone holder) and a white sweatshirt and doing my mommy duties.

Ladies, let me tell ya, I should have planned all of this the night before.  I should have done my hair, had my prom dress out and gotten up two hours early to get ready because every woman in line looked like they were ready for a fashion show.

My natural reaction as I listened to them talk and ignore me was that they all had jobs to get to.  NOPE.  These were stay at home moms.  I was being ignored feeling fat because of stay at home moms.  It made me wonder if maybe the jeans and more form fitting shirt would have been the better choice, because when I looked down, I noticed the bright red jelly stain my little man left on my plain white oversize (yet comfy) sweatshirt.

It was only when they started talking fitness did the Wii Mommy pop out of me.  Although they couldn’t see it under these oh so baggy clothes, there was a slim, beautiful woman here, feeling awkward and out of shape.  Once I started talking about the benefits of working out in your own home, one woman recognized me from the recent *front page* article about me and my trip to Miami.

They also bashed the Wii’s they own and talked about the Y.  Yeah.  They did that.

This is the lesson I’ve learned today.  While I didn’t care about how I looked enough to change before getting my son after school, I did realize that body image and self esteem really does come from how we dress and the efforts we put into ourselves.  When I get ready for a night out with some friends, I look and feel damn good but sitting here on the couch, writing away in swears, really does have an impact on how I see myself.

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