Today is National Selfie Day, and I want to take this opportunity to talk about the selfies of my late mother. Whew, deep breath guys- we're going to get though this together. This is a subject I've been wanting to talk about for quite some time, because I strongly feel the selfie is the strongest form of self expression and is an unparalleled way to show the world how we see ourselves. For those who don't know, my mom passed away two years ago this month. My mom was always my champion, and in turn showed me how to champion for others, because she had needed that cheerleader growing up. My mom didn't feel pretty for the majority of her life. Blame being curvy in the thin-is-in 1970's or blame her parents who put her on a diet at age 5. Yeah that's pretty fucked up. But she always felt ugly, because she was taught thin=beautiful, fat=ugly. Due to this, and the general lack of cute plus size clothes in the 80's and 90's she wore, as she would say "comfy shit" aka as she later acknowledged, frumpy clothes that were too big because she wanted to hide. Be invisible. But she loved makeup and jewelry- she desperately wanted to be seen as beautiful. It was in her 50's that she came into her own. I started fashion blogging and telling her about items I thought would suit her. The woman went nuts ya'll: dresses and matching shrugs, fun colors of Birkenstocks (always her favorite). And she started taking selfies. All pictures of my mom are precious to me, but her selfies are some of the best photos of her. Smiling at herself. LOVING HERSELF. Seeing this transition of a woman with a really messed up view of herself to finally seeing herself as a beautiful woman was amazing to see happening. It gave her a sense of agency she never had before. When she passed, I looked through the media in our text thread. And there it was, this story of my mom learning to love herself. Thank you mom for taking these selfies. Never judge selfies as self serving or narcissistic. It's a photo journal. #takeselfies #nationalselfieday
