Because You're Worth It

Being the magazine fanatic I am, Saturday I picked up the newest "Hip Hop-Soul" mag with R Kelly on the cover. The first page of the mag shows a Kells in an elevator with a girl in her underwear next to him laughing, and I noticed she had a belly ring. She's probably older than I am. I thought back to last summer when I decided I wanted a belly ring and my friend laughed hysterically and said, "Driadonna, you too old for a belly ring.That's what you do when you're 16." Suffice it to say I listened to him then. I'm thinking about it again now, and my tummy isnt even as flat as it was back then.

Last weekend I hung out with a woman who was 52. I met her outside of her level-3 pole dancing class, and she was excited that at her age, she can wear 9-inch stilettos and slide down a pole with one arm like a stripper in her 20s. I thought of the things I'd still like to learn to do; thought of the man I loved who'd always wanted me to dance for him and I was too self-conscious to.

Two weekends ago I walked down 5th Ave with a friend on the way to a club and saw a cute outfit in the window. It had a white top and very high waisted, gray wide-leg pants. I remarked, "That is too cute! But I'm too short to wear that."
"Hey, hey, don't do that!" my friend admonished. "You have one body, so put on it whatever you like."
A self-content smirk spread across my face and broke into a smile
"You're right," I said.

Yesterday I went to brunch with another young lady in my internship program. She was telling me about a date she had with a guy who was starting to show signs of being cheap.
"I feel bad for these guys up here who have to pay for dates," I said. "It's expensive."
"Yea, but you're worth it," she reminded me.

And after she reminded me of that fact, I went to the store and bought the cutest, low-cut, short-short dress. It's almost scandalous.
"Where you gon wear that?" my best friend asked after I told him about that day's relationship woes.
"I don't know," I answered. "Sometimes you got to look good for yourself, cuz when I feel sexy, the world responds."