You Mean I'm Not Alone?

My friend Laura is a woman of utterly, reliably, good sense. She reads widely and thinks deeply, she has a great sense of humor, she's as loyal as the day is long, and she home schools her two highly intelligent children while her husband regularly works eighty-plus hour weeks as a law student. In short, she's amazing (although she doesn't think so) and I am blessed to know her.

After my recent post on insecurity and the ensuing discussion in the comments and on Facebook, Laura wrote me an email that I loved so much, I asked if I could turn it into a guest post. She graciously agreed. If I had a photo of her handy that didn't feature her standing knee-deep in a creek in her swimsuit, I'd share it. But since I am a woman of unfailing discretion (mmmmhmmm), you'll just have to imagine her lovely face.

Here we go -- take it away, Laura!


Is there a woman alive for whom that doesn't sound familiar? 

Yeeks -- what made me laugh about that was my complete confidence that you couldn't have been talking about me as one-of-those-women.  :-)

Do you want to hear some of my tongue-in-cheek "affirmations" when I feel like that?

- My wrecked house is my gift to my friends.  It is an act of love to allow them a moment to feel superior.
- As long as I have the second-most-scraggly-looking yard in the neighborhood, I am not completely disgraced.
- I refuse to be a woman who clings youth through artificial means.  (And I forgot to slap on lipstick.)

And my favorite -- it felt so good to discuss this with a friend just recently --

Money, when it comes into my life (please someday soon), is meant to buy freedom, experience, charitable works, travel, education, and security, but not doodads.  A well-appointed house and the "finer things" are not on my list of must-haves, regardless of my neighbors. Money can buy what makes me happy, but "things" are not what my money will buy.