Late Night Thoughts

"I remembered also how she always made a point of complimenting me - my hair or some detail of what I wore. At first, because of who she was, it stunned me. But what may have been good manners or the desire to nurture confidence in a young woman became for me a lesson in feminine grace and the 

poise of acceptance. She required that. And I learned, in the end, to simply thank her."

- Of Mrs. Onassis: Come to the Edge by Christina Haag

~

Thinking a lot lately of feminineness, as I often do, I'm caught by a strong admiration for

the romanticism of subtle femininity. Conflicting pressures to fulfill a certain way of being

have lived as a haunting reminder of my inadequacy - of the list making musts that label me an apparent 

outsider to normal experience.. It is because of this that the sophisticated accounts of ladylike 

encounters, moments of poise, and unabashed frivolity hold such value even if they are found amidst the

pages of a novel. 

We need to better recognize the goodness of femininity, of the contested blossoming 

that is womanhood, and also those women who provide us with a sense of candid 

ease, a spark of humble veneration, and of kind and honest relationships which further

our growth as women.

Spending so much time and energy on the uglinesses of life - like not fitting in or being disliked - we forget to be grateful for our own loveliness.