Remember the Lipstick

Life Lessons from a Rodeo Queen

Lesson #1

I have learned that no matter what wild thing is going on in my life, if I pause and put on a bit of decoration, a bit of lipstick, I feel more beautiful...

I have four children ranging from 19 years old to 19 months. Sometimes all I can do in the morning is manage to brush my teeth and hide my hair under a large-toothed clip. And, honestly, that's if I'm lucky.

I put on my yoga pants fully intending to go through my much loved routine, but alas, no yoga for me. I try to find socks that match in my daughter's drawer because she's forever taking mine. 

I rarely get to drink the coffee or the tea I so meticulously make in the morning. By dinner time, it is just sitting on the counter, lonely, where I left it at 7:00 a.m. so I could chase Miss Molly around the living room.

By 3:00 p.m. when it's time to pick up my other daughters from school, I'm a frenzy of activity, trying to find my shoes, because the tiny one walked off with them. I stop to look in the mirror on my way out the door and see my hair has come loose from it's hurried early morning imprisonment. Of course it did! Why wouldn't it.

I love going to town looking like a scarecrow with too much straw for hair and mismatched socks wearing my husband's sandals because they were the only shoes I could find!

But, I know that my secret weapon is in my car, waiting for me. It's a simple shade of red; a lip stain that brushes on my lips like a refreshing tonic. I take a second only to pull down my visor, crane my neck to look in the miniature mirror where only my lips are visible. I apply the lipstick and smile.

My lips are pretty. My lips are kissable. I feel beautiful.