My Friend Ali

It's Wednesdayyyy! For me it means that it's Thursday [or, if you were here reading yesterday, my Monday #4, haha]; I'll be outta here on Friday with Kara, en route to Lexington to meet Kalyn, and onward to Nashville to celebrate Britt's last few weeks as a single woman. It's gonna be an adventure, I'm sure of it.

In the meantime, my friend Ali messaged me earlier today asking for my weigh-in on her most recent blog post. Not for content, but for grammar, etc. We chatted over it, but I felt compelled to forward her message to the rest of whatever miniature population actually comes here to read this ol' blog of mine.

This is one of my best friends. Her name is Ali, and she's amazing:

circa nov 2015 || ali & cori

Ya'll, if you don't have a friend like Ali, don't stress. I'm pretty sure there are very few out there like her, and if you do have one like her, then count yourself among the few and understand what a blessing those die-hard friends really are in your life. Ali's the friend who is there when you're happy, when you're sad, irritated, elated, falling apart or celebrating something big, visiting town for just a few hours or having a birthday. She will drive hours to see a friend, make arrangements to be sure she has time to spend with those close to her, and is truly selfless in ways most of us can only pretend to be. She loves Jesus, her family & friends, her job, good food and laughing. I mean, what more could you ask for out of a best friend?

I'm saying all that to say that if and when you read her post, I'd love for you to see it from the lens of her friend - someone who doesn't see her as a plus size, or whatever other size she is now or ever will be. If you've ever been around someone for a while who doesn't fit whatever "normal" mold we've constructed, you'll know what I mean - it's not to say that Ali was ever in any category like that for me, but at some point, you stop seeing a physical stranger and start relating to people based on who they are and how they contribute to your life.

Back to the [her] point: It's so easy for us to get sucked into the weight debate, whether it's our own bodies, celebrity standards [photoshopped, OFTEN, keep in mind] or whatever other metric we use to graph ourselves in relation to body image.

READ THE FULL ENTRY HERE

I'll let her entry speak for itself; she's got a good point, for me and for anyone else out there who's been struggling with body image in any way, shape or form. Let me be the first to say that YOU, yes YOU out there, whoever you are, are in fact fearfully and WONDERFULLY made, so have faith in yourself.

You're enough. You're more than enough. You and I were created as complicated, imperfect and beautiful beings, put here for the purpose of bonding with each other and bringing glory to the God who put us here.

If you're the 11-year-old girl back home who's been damaging her body as an outlet to vent the hurt and emotional abuse that's being inflicted on you by your peers [you know who you are], I need and want you to hear this, especially. You might not be "plus size," so the specific argument of weight doesn't apply to you, BUT, I know you're hurting, and that much of that stems from the demonized image of your own body that's being constructed by those around you, NOT because that is what you are. 

Friends, foes, bloggers and anyone else who stumbles onto this today:

You are beautiful, and there's not other reason other than it's a perfectly good Wednesday to remind you of that. Stay true to yourself and share the love with someone else today. ♥

Ali, I love you, friend - thank you for sharing this part of yourself with me and with the world!
P.S. - Ashley Graham is gorgeous, but I'm thankful for you as my friend!!

xo | cmd