micaharinbaker

[micaharinbaker]

Someday I will travel like this.  My rear opened to the entire world.

[micaharinbaker]

This image was posted to my wall via facebook a matter of minutes ago by a relative of mine.  She said that a little birdie had told her that I stopped shaving my legs and that she thought this would be a nice laugh for me. Well, it was the opposite of a laugh.

My attempt to respond back (I didn't want to come off rude, because I know she was trying to gesture lightly and make me laugh):

I giggled a little at first. Although, it's awfully sad that many women feel that they have to compare themselves to a wild animal or one that doesn't even exist such as a “werewolf” when their legs have hair on them, or say that they NEED to shave. I guess the difference between this post and I (even though I get the whole “carefree bad-A lady” that you must have seen when you posted this on my wall, so I do thank you for that) is that instead of looking in the mirror and being scared of the image that I see, I don't see a werewolf or a wild animal, I see a beautiful, confident woman who doesn't NEED to do anything to perfect my image.

-end post-

The fact is, I think everything about that comic is a huge problem. From comparing yourself to a wild animal, to being scared to turn around and look in the mirror, to thinking that you NEED to shave your legs. Also, the coffee cup that the lady has in her hands states "I heart my attitude problem". Why in the world does not shaving your legs have to be considered an attitude problem? Does shaving your legs/body hair automatically make one believe that their attitude is right? I think that MY attitude is on point, simply by not caring about image, or what other people think.

My grandma told me to ignore the post, and not to be ashamed, to embrace who I am.

Well, that's the point. I am NOT ashamed. That comic doesn't exactly offend me, because I push any feeling of offense to the side and laugh it off simply because other people just don't GET IT and I understand that. Not everyone can GET IT. That's why I take it lightly, that's why I can appreciate the thought that SHE must have thought when she posted it to my wall.  I don't take huge offense that many other women's rights advocates would have. I can appreciate the humor that other people may see, but if you actually analyze the photo you see how wrong it is, and the negative image that it shows for other women who might take MORE offense that I would and then become ashamed.

BODY HAIR IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT.

-end rant-

[micaharinbaker]

[micaharinbaker]

and so the goldfish swam away into a beautiful sea of blue.

[micaharinbaker]

SMOOLIE drifts off to infinity forever

[micaharinbaker]

When i get to the bottom of it i sink. Seems like nothing i said ever meant anything but a headline over my head. Thought i made a stand, only made a scene.

Metric

[micaharinbaker]

Take the time time to look around at what we've been given and breathe it all in.  The beauty of the mountains, the feeling of the fresh air filling your lungs, the sounds of time moving at its own pace.  Cleanse your mind, sometimes we forget where we've placed our own thoughts. 

[micaharinbaker]

"There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke." -Vincent Van Gogh

[micaharinbaker]

Coming Home

I, as an American, have never really thought about the extreme differences that one encounters in different countries.  The traditions that are here are not the same as they are in another place.  I can't imagine life without the extreme temperatures, loads of snow, screen doors, iced tea in a mason jar and even the smell of skunks.  It's nice to think that I can walk down a old gravel road here and converse with the many people who pass by.  No matter where I go there will always be the chance of waving to a random car, or asking a stranger how their day is going. The passage in "Bryson Coming Home" really just summed up how i feel as a whole:

(As well, there has been the constant, unexpected joy of reencountering all those things I grew up with but had largely forgotten: baseball on the radio, the deeply satisfying whoing-bang slam of a screen door in the summer, insects that glow, sudden run-for-your-life thunderstorms, really big snowfalls, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, the smell of a skunk from just the distance that you have to sniff the air quizzically and say: “Is that a skunk?”, Jello-O with stuff in it, the pleasingly comical sight of oneself in shorts. All that counts for a lot, in a strange way.)

[micaharinbaker]

Coffee Shop Talks

Two old men. Sitting at a coffee shop sharing thoughts about love and how they both messed up having that in their life.  Two old men, just talking about how they came across old pictures of them during the three best years of their lives: the years they were in France.  I listen to the things that they experienced and man, it sounds like they lived a great life.  One of the men starts talking about a model that he met while he was in Rome: "she was my soul mate, i've never met anyone like her before... we spent that summer in France laying around in each other's bed just talking about the possibilities of life.  The days come and go where i beat myself up for not staying in touch with her.  I wonder what she's doin' now"...

Two old men sitting at a coffee shop, one commenting that he’s probably going to die in a year or two.  “I hope I do die soon, I’d rather not stretch it out into ten more long years”. He doesn’t seem bitter, but just sighs and exhales “its been a good life”. 

I want to be able to say that when I’m 70 sitting in a coffee shop smoking my last cigarette.

I sat there for a moment, just listening to their conversation about love, casually typing almost everything that came out of their mouths, nearly in tears:

Old man 1: "Don’t you love seeing young couples holding hands, because you sit there and laugh knowing that they’re not going to last.  They don’t know that, but you know that.  And you also know that they don’t have a care in the world, because in that moment, they don’t care about anyone else but each other."

Old man 2: "Well, You know what I really like to see?

An old couple, 70 years old, still madly in love like they were fifty years ago.  That’s what I like to see.  I love observing how they coordinate like a school of fish, moving along without ever having to says anything because they know each other that well. That’s the magic that people have lost believing in, it shows that there’s still hope, it can still happen. You can sit there and observe the glow in their eyes and know that what they have is real.  A bond that strong, now that’s what I like to see."

 "I want someone to talk to and converse with… well besides my dog. But oh well, it could be worse."

Today at the coffee shop, the music was out so that meant no music, just sitting, drinking my coffee and listening.  I had really forgotten how nice it was just to listen. People really don't realize what they miss when their wrapped up in other conversations or plugged into media all the time.  These two old men had absolutely no idea that I was so touched by what they were saying.

You can really look at someone and have no idea what they've been through, what kind of life they've led, how their three years in France led them to find the soul mate that they never got to be with.

Life is interesting.  Sometimes the most random tell the best stories.  Look around.  Breathe.  Listen.  Write.