The other morning, Michaela got up and dressed herself in black and white checkered pants with red socks, red shirt and red fleece pull-over. I’m amazed at this child’s eye for color and fashion sense. She loves to run around wearing a bandana cocked in her hair. And her clothes almost always match in a striking way.
What my three year old loves most of all is wearing sunglasses. Anywhere. Her latest set she picked up at the opthamologist’s in December and makes “six eyes” with a pair of tinted lenses that flip up.
Almost anywhere we go, I’ll hear remarks such as “Way Cool!” People smile. Michaela likes her glasses. And she likes the comments too.
Last summer, Michaela was wearing another pair of sunglasses when we went to an art fair on the island. One artist saw her and declared: “She’ll be a shopper!”
I smiled politely at the comment but inside I wanted to say, “Thanks for cursing my kid!” A shopper?! That was the last thing I wanted my girls to grow up to be. I saw a shopper as consumer, Capital C Consumer, never satisfied, spending and spending in vanity and waste.
But then I thought about her remark. I went home and looked up this artist’s Web site. She’s a photographer. And she used to work for Nordstrom’s. And I think perhaps what she was trying to do was compliment Michaela on her fashion sense. Perhaps she saw that my daughter has an eye for style. I decided to take it as a compliment rather than a curse.
I’ve noticed how well Michaela matches her clothes. Abigail will sometimes dress herself in a shirt and pants that don’t go together at all, colors that clash to me. Her strength is more in design. Our oldest daughter will take a two dimensional piece of paper and turn it into some three-dimensional creation: a purse, a house, a box. She’s got an eye for engineering. While Michaela might do well at interior design. Perhaps they’ll open an architectural firm together someday…
I wonder how they’ll grow and develop from here, and I wonder too what strengths little sister Elisabeth will have. I hope that our girls don’t end up as Shoppers, Consumers, with devouring appetites and wasteful habits. But I do hope they become whoever they were designed to be, with their strengths developed into a beauty and style unique to each girl.
