#ThrowBackThursday

Well, here we go! My Throwback. This evidently is my Valentine’s Day School picture from who knows when. I appear to be sporting my favorite brown terrycloth shirt with the collar trimmed in off white with a slight tear on the left shoulder. And no I did not forget it was picture-taking day. This was one of the best shirts I had at the time. And no I am not ashamed. At the time I really thought I was dressed to kill. And I would have been, if it wasn’t for that big heart behind me and all of the red and white that clashed with my golden brown shirt.

If somehow you can lift your eyes from the breathtaking shirt to notice a few other things, I would appreciate it. Notice the incoming mustache. It’s so perfect that it appears to have been penciled in with just the right number of hairs. Oh, and don’t overlook the beard strands that blend in so completely that they disappear as if to be nonexistent. I admit that it’s easy to lose the beard because of all the hair blocking out the background in this photo. That’s right! I am proudly sporting my “Sta-sof-fro-picked-out-then-patted-down-miniaturized-with-a-shag-in-the-back-air-fro.”

I decided to participate in Throwback Thursday. I really want to call it Throw-It-Back Thursday or Throw-It-Away Thursday. As I try to forget some things or try to bury some things for some reason they keep coming up. So I decided to laugh at myself today. I decided to join in the jokes and chuckles. I decided that there really are some things about me that are funny. So I give you something to laugh about and know that it’s really ok.

Today I laugh at myself. I laugh at the way I dressed. I laugh at what I thought was in vogue. I laugh at decisions that I made that I probably wouldn’t make today if I had to choose again. But as you and I both know, the decisions are done. There are photos, videos and ongoing consequences and ramifications that will never die. Here is some good advice. Learn to laugh at yourself. Learn to laugh with others. It really doesn’t matter if others laugh only to hurt you. All that matters is that you learn to laugh at yourself sometimes.

Laughing at yourself will help you not to take life so serious all the time. Laughing at your self reinforces the truth that you are not perfect, never was perfect and never will be perfect on this side of heaven. I can laugh because, since I am not perfect, then I am not broken. And if I am not broken then I don’t need to be fixed. There is nothing wrong with me. By this I simply mean that I am of no less value than the next person. Yes I want to be the best me that I can be. But trying to live up to another broken persons’ expectations is of no interest to me. So today I share my throwback photo with you, because although I prefer to throw it away, sometimes life just does not present that as an option. And now that this piece of my past is out, it no longer has any power over me. Today I laugh. #throwbackthursday