Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder!

It Was The Sound of Their Feet, artist Aleah Chapin

 

I was perusing Facebook a few days ago - out of boredom and seeking for some inspiration, and my search was over when a "friend" shared the work of Brooklyn, NY artist, Aleah Chapin.  Her creative insights of women are both raw and real, breathtaking and boundary breaking. 

 

In the history of this blog, I address our body image very frequently.  My partner often questions my continuous exploration of this issue as perhaps an "over done" topic.  The regularity of this subject in my writing is due to the fact that women (the vast majority of us) have a completely fucked up vision of our bodies. 

 

We all view the glossy magazine front pages and I confess that I am in awe of those "cover girls." Many times, in my "inside voice," I uttered a wish that I looked like them.  We all are guilty of that crime.  I have yet to hear from one of the fabulous women in my life, "I want to look like just like me."

 

Chapin's work forces us to take a real look at ourselves.  Dimpled rear ends, saggy tits, round bellies are "badges of honour"  regarding our lives as mothers, as nurturers, as real women.  No "glazed ham" vagina here, her work depicts women with full bush, and I don't feel compelled to touch them up with a full Brazilian wax job.

 

Explore Chapin's work, it inspired me to worry less about the size of my ass and contemplate more about how I live my life as a woman.  www.aleahchapin.com 

 

Love yourself and your ass, xo vagi

Fifteen

The ringing in of 2015 forced me to realize how quickly the past fifteen years have passed.  I remember clearly the hysteria of 2000 complete with the Y2K myths, motivating consumers to warehouse batteries, bottles of water and withdraw cash from accounts in the fear (both real and imagined) as to the aftermath of systems switching over from 1999.

My 2000 was spent at a house party with friends and couples, some still together and others not. I was recovering from a volatile divorce, combined with fragile personal health and in a relationship that was rocky.  That year ended for me single and searching, and parenting a young lad from  my location in Canada while he was firmly planted with his father in the U.K.  I was thirty-two and not sure of who I was or who I wanted to be.

I begin 2015 in a new city, new country and new opportunities.  No longer single and searching, I know who I am, I understand my strengths and even at most times, my weaknesses.  I have been married for a dozen years, complete with two other lads to add a total of three to the mix in my litter.  Not perfect, not without twists and turns, but always challenging and fulfilling.

For the next fifteen, I have developed a list of "F" words to help guide me and motivate me to stay on path (or veer off as usually happens).  Here they are:

FAMILY:  putting them first, nurturing them, loving them and keeping them close

FRIENDS:  cherishing them (old and new), and realizing that while contact may lessen, they stay firmly placed in the heart

FEMALES:  seeking out and engaging in fabulous and amazing women who inspire me

FIFTY:  I begin 2015 at forty-seven and will end the next 15 year mark in my early sixties, I plan to celebrate my upcoming decade with vigour and perhaps some controversy

FINDING:  discover a new path, a new passion, a new cause, a place for self and wellness

FAILURE:  accepting it, understanding it

FORGIVENESS:  for people I have wronged, actions I am not proud of, and for others who have hurt me

FEMINISM:  be more brave, be less politically correct and roar!

I think we put too much emphasis on short blocks of time.  Contemplate the past fifteen and the future fifteen, then make your list. 

Stay well, stay brave and stay true and love! xo vagi