Confession, gossip, modesty...light fare!

So as you can see I have happy, carefree things on my mind tonight :) This morning while Caitrin was napping I had the chance to visit with a dear friend, my former boss. She is on vacation this week and came over to catch up over Double Chocolate donuts. We had a great time talking about this and that. Seems a lot has changed in the nearly 10 months since I left their employ. I enjoyed hearing the inside scoop on how everyone's really doing. I stop in to say hi every now and then, but most people, when they're on the job, tend to portray an "everything's fine" appearance. And it's not that things aren't, for the most part, fine with my former colleagues...oh gosh, I'm rambling. Okay, back to the point. I did, or rather, failed to do, something I regret. I asked how the lady I worked for during the final year of my tenure was. My friend replied that she was well and then relayed a story about the other lady's flair for the dramatic. At the time my gossip radar beeped a little, and I should've listened to it. I should have changed the subject, and I didn't. I once heard a guest speaker on Family Life Today say that in God's eyes, gossip is no different than murder; it is the slaying of the character of someone who has no opportunity to defend himself. And though I wasn't saying anything, that's exactly the point. I wasn't saying ANYTHING. I think you're just as guilty when you fail to do the right thing as when you do the wrong thing. Thankfully God is gracious to forgive us these faux pas, but I really will make an effort to step up in the future and do the right thing.

Caitrin and I were at Wal-Mart today (sorry, Dad, if you're reading this). We needed to grab various odds and ends, and as we were checking out, I spotted pay dirt: this week's edition of TV Guide, which has a lovely photo of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny on the cover. It's got a feature article about the new movie (or rather, the way there is NO information being made available about the new movie), replete with a piece by Frank Spotnitz. I HAD to pick it up of course...I'll do anything I can to support this movie. I didn't get a chance to look at it until after we got home and I got Caitrin down for her nap and put things away. Well...(pauses to consider how best to put a positive spin on this)...let's just say it was an excellent reminder why I make it a point not to expose myself to mainstream print media. The XF stuff was great, but the rest of the magazine was nothing but smut. What the heck?! This is TV Guide, you know, the same one my grandparents always had! The one I used to spend hours reading at Grandma & Grandpa's house. I dare say it's a safe bet not many grandparents subscribe to that piece of trash anymore.

So that brings up an issue that is very near and dear to my heart: modesty. It sounds like a Puritan concept in this day and age, right? Society champions the serpent called lust at every turn. It's the reason we cancelled our cable and got the Dish Network Family Pack instead - no MTV, no VH1, no FX or Spike. About the time I was graduating high school, the "music channels" stopped being about music at all. I remember when I used to watch Bonnie Raitt and John Lee Hooker on House of Blues. You can sure as heck see a lot of hookers on MTV now, but none of them are blues legends. You need only step out your front door to see the effect of the spell we're under. The one that tells us there's nothing wrong with microminis on seven year olds and bikinis on toddlers. That it's cute when you're wearing a thong and it sits higher on your waist than your pants.

I see it when I shop for baby clothes. Yes, baby clothes! Apparently it's totally kosher for the crib set to wear booty shorts and tube tops. Recently we started cloth diapers with Caitrin, and they're much bulkier than disposables. As a result, she needed a whole new set of pants, shorts and the like in a bigger size. I searched stores high and low for weeks, and finally had to bring my husband along with us to help me. Oh, there were plenty of options available, if I'm into my 9 month old wearing the infant equivalent of dominatrix gear! The end result was that, just as when I shop for myself, I really only found 2 pairs of shorts that were appropriately modest, and resorted to buying capris and bermudas for the most part. I am sickened that society's assault on female self-respect begins at birth. My daughter is beautiful, but I want her to learn to extol the virtues of inner beauty and intelligence. I never want any of my children to use their appearance to manipulate others. In allowing baby and toddler girls to dress in what essentially amounts to lingerie, we are creating little teases. We are teaching our girls to use their bodies to attract attention. This is why nine year olds are getting vaccinated against HPV. I can assure you that when the time comes, my nine year old will NOT be given Gardasil. What does it say for the state of the human race when we tell our children that they are sexual beings and that it's to be celebrated?! To quote my nephew A.P., "aye, aye, aye!"

I'll get off my soapbox presently, but let me close with this: I will teach my daughter that modesty in dress and behavior is anything but dowdy. Thanks to sites like C28.com, there are tons of hip, edgy options out there. I am the world's biggest denim fiend. Jeans are my weakness, and I would go to the ends of the earth and sell my birthright for the perfect pair. That said, I am sick to death of hearing that young girls "can't find anything but superlow-cut ones, that's why I wear them!" I have several pairs of Levi's 518's that I live in. I've also had plenty of luck with Paris Blues, LEI and Old Navy. Last comment, I swear: the picture above is me and Caitrin just before we left for church a couple Sundays ago. I included it to prove a point about modest dress. I got this shirt from C28, and I found Caitrin's, which almost matches mine, at Target along with her super-cute bike shorts. There are plenty of options, you've just gotta be patient and look. I'm out.