I admit it. I’ve gone princess. Yes, you’re right, in the early 90s I was the strident one saying people shouldn’t dress their girls in pink because it made them weak. I think I wrote a Women’s Studies paper about gender stereotypes and Barbie at some point at Bates. A rant from one of my professors has always stood out in my mind, it had something to do with dissecting the concept of pretty pink party shoes and how very very wrong it all was from a feminist perspective. I have eschewed even glimmers of pink in my wardrobe for decades.
Then there was Molly. She clomps around in my dress shoes and gasps with glee when I wear the gold kitten heels I never would have even considered buying were it not for my brother’s bride to be. I feel awkward in anything but clogs or flip flops. I am a college-town kid who came of age in the angry feminist grunge era, after all.
Molly spots shoes everywhere. Books, catalogs, television. “She has pretty shoes,” she’ll say.” Me, oblivious, will whip around asking, “Where? Who?” as she stares in awe. Her first spontaneous compliment to a stranger was “I like your shoes!”
Recently, we had lunch at a local restaurant, where she daintily munched tortilla chips and ate her chicken politely with a fork. We chatted across the mint green booth about books and music, mostly her favorites. While I nibbled my mostly salad wrap, she admitted that she likes her dance class “because it makes her heart feel happy inside.”
After, we went shopping at the TJ Maxx next door. She found two dresses in her size, “See Mom, 3T! These will fit me, I think,” she said. “Can I try them on in the grown up dressing room?” One that she wouldn’t let go of was a “Cinderella” brand dress. Full length, cupcakey skirt, spaghetti straps, silver shining things sewn on.
Pink.
So we went and tried it on, and I couldn’t stop myself from buying it for her despite the fact that there is no occasion where she could possibly wear it before she outgrows it. I think it was the look on her face. The adorable pinkness of it all. It looks perfect with her dress up box glass slippers and her gigantic smile.
Have I mentioned I’ve lately started wearing pink? Maybe this afternoon we’ll go shopping for some pretty shoes - for me.
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