Growing up, I was the definition of a girly girl.
Most of my clothes were pink and purple. I refused to wear jeans because they were “too plain.” I enjoyed dressing up for any occasion. At Christmas, I always wore a velvet dress and my Easter ensembles generally included a matching hat and purse. I always accessorized with lots of jewelry. I also required girly shoes to complete my outfits. If forced to wear sneakers, I would only pick Keds because they were the cutest.
My hair was often accessorized with colorful scrunchies. I also had my fair share of sparkly clips and headbands. I didn’t like plain things at all. At one point, I even had a crimping iron to make my hair itself fancy. As you may have guessed, I had long hair, because that was the girliest.
My bedroom was also a girl’s dream.
My mom let me pick out the colors myself. I chose mauve carpet and pale purple walls. She obligingly sewed me some purple flowery curtains to match. I even had my very own water bed. The frame had knobs with purple and pink flowers. Even my dresser had flowers painted on the top drawer. Purple was my favorite color and I picked it for everything.
What hobbies did this girly girl have?
I took dance classes, of course! I started off in tap and ballet class at the age of three, thrilled to wear costumes and makeup for the recital at the end of the year. I also added in jazz and clogging as time went on, even though the costumes were not quite so pretty in my opinion. When I eventually quit dance lessons, I moved on to piano lessons and community theater. I was very disappointed that in my first musical, I played a little thief boy in Oliver! It meant that I did not get a pretty dress or makeup. I even joined a band of Civil War reenactors so that I could wear a fancy hoop skirt.
As you can probably guess, I really enjoyed playing with dolls.
At one point, I even belonged to a doll club. I wanted all of my dolls to be girls, so I could dress them up. My Barbie enclave only included two Ken dolls. Most of the time, they just fell off the roof of the Barbie house so that Dr. Barbie would have a patient to care for. I spent a lot of time playing with my American Girl doll, Samantha. I chose her because she was the girliest of the bunch.
What else did this girly girl do in her spare time?
I spent a lot of that spare time painting and coloring. I liked to use pretty colors, such as purple and pink, of course! I also spent inordinate amounts of time reading. My early reading was very girly, like me. I read countless Nancy Drew books and the entire Little House on the Prairie series. I also enjoyed sewing, crocheting, and latch hooking. (Honestly, I still enjoy all those things.)
During recess at school, I enjoyed swinging for the entirety of recess. There was also a long jump roping phase in my life. One year, I also brought my very own pink Skip-It every day. I absolutely refused to learn how to ride a bike for the longest time because bikes were not girly enough.
I was so thankful to be a girl.
I looked at my poor brothers and pitied their ugly clothing. As a girl, I had access to pretty things, such as nail polish, makeup, and earrings. Boys got none of that. They didn’t get to carry cute purses or wear high heels. How could they not be jealous? They seemed perfectly fine wearing jeans, sweat pants, t-shirts, and sneakers. I was so thankful that I didn’t suffer that same boring fate!
Eventually, I outgrew my girly girl phase.
At one point, I even went through a grunge phase, wearing jeans, baggy t-shirts, and work boots. In college, I mostly wore scrubs. At this point in my life, dresses, skirts, and jewelry have reappeared. I still love bright colors and wild patterns and I wear them without apology. At this point, people are surprised on the days when I wear a subdued outfit.
Here’s what I learned from childhood: life is better when you choose an outfit that makes you smile when you look in the mirror!
