By DENENE MILLNER
For Dove.com
She gets on my nerves really—this chick who’s spent a lifetime making me feel wholly inadequate. Even when we were little, she made a point of showing me up—donning her fancy dresses and holding my Mom’s hand while she marched down the church aisle, bragging to anyone who would listen about that girl’s straight A’s and her Honor Society kudos and her first chair flute status in the school band. She was cute. Never got into any trouble. Did exactly as she was told.
Perfect.
And that perfect girl grew up into the perfect teenager—went to college on scholarship and started her own magazine and focused on becoming a journalist instead of boys and partying and all the scary, ridiculous, fun experimenting college students do. And, of course, then she became the perfect woman—at least according to society’s standards: A dutiful wife, a loving, attentive, doting-but-firm mom, and a career woman who excelled at her craft, holding down gigs as a political and then entertainment reporter before becoming a senior magazine editor and then national columnist and then the best-selling author of 18 books.
In public, I’m proud of her for all she’s accomplished and make a point of saying such, especially when everyone else is piling on, singing her praises—telling her she’s fierce and fly and inspirational and sheer awesome.
But in private, she scares me. Her success is intimidating; no matter how hard I try, I find it hard to keep up with her frenetic pace. Her successes. And other peoples’ expectations of her.
TO SEE WHO I CONSIDER TO BE MY BIGGEST COMPETITION, CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE REST OF MY POST AT DOVE.COM.
To check out blog posts by my fellow Dove.com editors, including a special guest post by former boxer Laila Ali, CLICK HERE.
Posts
I applaud you. You are a true inspiration to your girls and other women.
ReplyDeleteWell gosh, Denene. Not only do you make me wish I'd pursued journalism instead of PR as a major, but you've made me feel completely inadequate as a wife, mother, former scholar and woman.
ReplyDeleteThank you VERY much.
Of course, you know this statement is all very tongue in cheek. :) You rock!
Oh, you had me going! LOL. I was wondering who could she be speaking of?! Who's got my girl all noided up in here?! Where she at?! Where's my Vaseline?!
ReplyDeleteAnywho, this piece is so inspirational. You hit a cord. We can't let ourselves down. We can't!
You are pretty phenominal yourself! You write for Dove for goodness sakes! Be proud! You have vast accomplishment as well, just a bit different then her!
ReplyDeleteLynn
Love the post, Love the blog.
ReplyDeleteTiffany
http://liferequiresmorechocolate.blogspot.com/
I loved this piece for so many reasons. Thank you!
ReplyDelete