Why was I offended? Why did I care?
I don't know! Deep down, I think I just didn't want to grow up that fast. I knew make-up was inevitable, but I didn't want it to overtake our lives. I wanted to have fun at Disneyland, not get checked out by the teenage boys also there with their friends.
So why I wanted a crop top when I was 15 is beyond me. But everyone was doing it. If only I could explain to my kids how powerful peer pressure is. The desire to fit in, to be cool, to be noticed, to be like everyone else.
My crop top had these cute little spaghetti straps that tied at the shoulder. It was a straight neckline, made of cotton smock fabric you would use to make a dress, except it didn't have a skirt, just the tube top part, because remember, it was a crop top. I googled a photo and cropped it, (see what I did there?) so you could see what it looked like, only mine was the cutest brown checkered crop top with the same bottom as the top, so it was almost a bit frilly.
Appalet. Temple City. Summer of 1996, the summer before I would be entering high school as a freshman. Spaghetti straps had become a thing the summer before, and all of us were wearing it, especially when Wet Seal had a 3 for $10 deal, albeit mine were always covered with a sweater. I was a little taken aback when my mom said it was cute, and if I liked it, I could get it. Show my stomach? *gasp Where would I ever wear it to? But I wanted one so badly, and was about to be a freshman in high school. So I told my mom I wanted it. I felt like a hypocrite. I had just gotten into a huge fight with one of my best friends earlier that summer when she wanted to wear a midriff to Disneyland. Of course her dad would kill her if he found out, so she planned to change into it after we got to the park. Months later, he would find some photos of the four of us and see her revealed stomach and she'd get in trouble, but that is besides the point. How could I now buy one?
"Your mom's so cool. I can't believe she let you get that!" my friends told me.
Except... I never wore it. It just sat in my closet collecting dust.
I eventually donated it. Another friend borrowed it a few times. I should have just given it to her, but I didn't want to admit that I'd never wear it anyway.
What would my mom have done if I did wear it? If I did have the guts to wear a crop top in public?! (I don't even like wearing two piece swimsuits but I have bought my fair share over the years).
"I knew you'd never wear it. You'd throw a bigger [hissy] fit over me not buying it, so I just buying it for you." she said. "Plus, all your friends thought I was cool for getting you it. Ha!"
Oh. Wow.
How did she know?
How do moms know you better than you know yourself sometimes?
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