She Called Me
“Sir”
Starla J. King
She
called me “sir” today, as I was picking out roses for Valentines’ Day.
This happens . . . not that often . . . but it happens, so I’m used to
it. But today for some reason it bothered me.
I
certainly don’t blame
anyone for thinking I’m a guy—I do tend to dress that way, and I do
have the short-cropped hair styled more like a guy’s hair than a
girl’s. Look at the picture and you can see it too, the “sir” you might
mistake at a glance.
So why
today is “sir” not
rolling off with a chuckle? Because it’s not me. Inside I am woman,
girl, female. I am so proud to be a woman, so thankful to be a woman,
so honored to be a woman.
Yet I
often dress like a
guy
because somehow that resonates with me. I feel strong, confident,
beautiful, sexy in those clothes. I feel authentic in those clothes.
But it doesn’t mean I don’t still feel like a strong, confident,
beautiful, sexy woman.
I can’t
explain it, but
somehow I feel even more woman when I dress in the clothes that suit me
. . . even when they’re boy clothes.
Still
on some days I need
to dress to the hilt in totally “girly” clothing, trading the faux-hawk
hairstyle for a gently feminine side-swirl, adding an extra layer of
makeup (including lipstick), finished off with a light scent of Hugo
“Deep Red” for women instead of my standard Burberry “Touch” for men.
We are
complex beings, we
humans. Gay, straight, or somewhere in-between, we are all complex,
beautiful human beings. And today I’m reminded that we don’t need to
figure it all out—for ourselves or for anyone else.
—Starla J.
King, Ashburn,
Virginia, is a garden designer, writer, and photographer. She
co-owns Signature Gardenscapes, LLC (www.signaturegardenscapes.com)
with her life partner Sandy and enjoys the creative freedom of blogging
at http://starlajking.wordpress.com.
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