* Everything is Beautiful

I remember a song from years ago that had the line "everything is beautiful...in its own way." This was not a concept I grasped at the time, and I haven't thought of it in....well a very long time. The notion came upon me the other day when I watched my daughter prance away. She was wearing yet another combination of clothing that caused me mental anguish. (Did I mention that she has climbed up into her closet to retrieve the summer clothes I did not put away high enough? We have now compromised and she is allowed to wear skirts with pants underneath and bathing suit tops only when covered by a long sleeve shirt)

I have learned that she picks out her clothes based on the beauty of the individual items, rather than the combination and overall look. Matching? What is that? Due to this approach we often leave the house in something similar to the following

• Blue jacket
• Light pink long sleeve shirt with a horse, complete with pink stringy tail
• Hot pink Skirt
• black pants/leggings with pink ballet slipper design
• shiny pink "mary jane's" that are neither light pink or hot pink in color

I might also note that not a single pink in that outfit coordinated with any other pink in the outfit. In fact clash comes to mind. She thought she was beautiful. She walked with assurance of her beauty throughout several stores as we did some Christmas shopping. I had to refrain from telling everyone we met that she dressed herself. That I as her mother did provide adequate clothing in matching colors. But as I said I have been practicing my deep breathing and instead told no one, and merely agreed with her that everything was beautiful, that she was beautiful, in her own way.

And she was.