Beauty

If you had told me 17 years ago that our oldest daughter would be entering a national beauty pageant, I would have laughed.

Pageants?

I am so NOT a pageant person. Those of you who know me, know that I am a wash and wear kind of person. I don't "do" fluff-n-stuff. My kids don't fluff either. They are wash and wear people too. If you met anyone of us on the street, you would see us as generally well kempt but very natural...no flash, no frills, just ordinary people with ordinary hair, ordinary clothes, natural nails, and unmade faces.

So imagine my surprise when my oldest daughter asked if I would accompany her to an orientation for the 2007 Nationals Pageant Competition. I almost crapped my pants. Literally.

Apparently this daughter of mine has learned that some serious college scholarship money is available through pageant competition. She wants that dough. She wants it bad. Forget about that faux diamond tiara, just give her the $25,000 cash scholarship.

Now, my oldest child is quite lovely. She's also smart, funny, and incredibly self-possessed. I am biased of course, but it is this mother's humble opinion that any pageant would be fortunate to have a young woman of her caliber in their pageant. I just can't help wondering if the pageant world is ready for her. Will they even give her a chance?

When I explained to our daughter that in order to be competitive she might need to conform to the beauty industry's standard for beauty. That would mean waxing her eyebrows, wearing foundation and false eyelashes, and learning to perch herself gracefully atop a pair of spiky high heels.

Her reply was "Why should I wax my brows? I like my brows and heels? Pfft. For $25,000, I can learn to walk in heels."

I'm actually a bit awestruck by her determination and her willingness to try something so completely foreign to all of us. There's no doubt that I intend to support her if she decides to move forward with this competition. I have also decided that I won't pressure her to be a cookie cutter pageant competitor. If she doesn't want to wax her brows, so be it.

If she doesn't want to wear those funky squishy plastic booby pusher uppers in her bra, so be it. Forget the vaseline on the teeth and the glue-on caterpillar lashes. Let her be who she is and let the chips fall where they may.

She's a winner in my book...

...and who knows, maybe the judges will see that too.

SPINAL UPDATE: It appears that our son does exhibit changes in his spine that might require treatment. We'll know more after we receive the radiologist's report and speak with our doc. Not to worry though, the changes are minor and may not even require treatment. That's our hope anyway.