I’m going to make a departure from autumn musings to discuss something near and dear to my heart: How we see ourselves. This came about through a rant and a blog. The blog is from a friend I haven’t met personally though we are one (or two or three?) degrees of separation since she is a friend of the owner of one of my Dragons and Queens litter.
It’s Different for Girls…Body Image and Riding..
Anna was inspired by a rant that had me reaching for my keyboard…she just got there first. The rant: For all women brought chills to my skin and a Gibbs slap to the back of my skull. How long will we let that outer critic tear down our self esteem? I spent far too much of my life not being good enough or pretty enough in my OWN eyes. Whatever caused that is past and immaterial now.
How ironic one of the passions in my life is breeding and showing dogs. If ever there was a trivial pursuit, dog showing would be in
With Bouddicca 2013 by Kathy Jones
With Black Adder in 2010
the forefront. If I took it too seriously I’d no doubt be screaming into the storm. Except after decades there is more to showing than just presenting my ‘lukis for the opinion of others. For me it’s a social gathering. All of us dedicated to these silly sly creatures getting together to meet, greet, compete and cheer each other on. Winning is great, losing not so much but at the end of the day we all go home with the hounds we love. If we’re lucky our friends take pictures of our dogs, sometimes with us. Fortunately we can edit ourselves out of the pictures. I’m going to be brave, and NOT edit. Not only because (ahem) I’m kinda proud of managing to drop some weight along the way but also because I am me, and if I wait until I’m a perfect me, I’ll never, ever be happy. And happy is what we all deserve to be.
September 2013 with Bouddicca, happy happy
by Jenny Willis
Mona Karel Author 