Colorado Girl

I have been suffering an identity crisis lately. I am a mom to three kids and wife to a soon-to-be minister. I have a 14 month old boy and I have yet to be able to reclaim my body (a.k.a. wean him), I have once again become a stay at home mom, and I am finding myself struggling with who I am.

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I am the child of a broken and extremely dysfunctional home. I am an army brat and a survivor of child abuse. And, I have always taken great pride in being a Colorado Girl. I haven't been back to Colorado in almost 15 years, though, and I am finding myself increasingly unhappy with who I am or am not being and constantly wishing I was something else. I don't know if it's a proximity thing or an age thing. So, I thought I would look into what it means to be a Colorado Girl.

Colorado has the most confident, intelligent, inspiring, adventurous, and independent women in America. A Colorado Girl is unique. Her outfits aren’t name brand, and she doesn’t care if her bra matches her panties. She’s 100% perfectly imperfect. And the 2,628,487 women who call themselves Coloradans do not fit snugly into a one-size-fits-all label, but there are some similarities. 

A Colorado Girl is beautiful on the inside and confident of who she is. She has a natural beauty and it shines through. She has a real smile, real hair, and a real body. She believes wearing yoga pants out is perfectly acceptable. She believes that chapstick and a swab of mascara counts as “done up.” She doesn't need lots of makeup, her gorgeous personality and a flannel shirt is just enough to make any man fall in love.

The beauty of a Colorado Girl is that she knows what she believes, and she isn’t letting anyone tell her otherwise. A Colorado Girl knows that no good comes from caring too much about what others think or say. After all, if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

A Colorado Girl is raised to have class. She might hold strongly to her beliefs, but that doesn’t mean she is going to criticize others for them. She isn’t prejudiced in any way, she is used to interacting with all different people on a daily basis.

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A Colorado Girl knows how to have fun. She  isn't afraid to try something new, there is always places she hasn't been and things they hasn't done. She will spend weekends in the mountains climbing, fishing, and/or camping.

A Colorado Girl is friendly and know how to keep their friends. She will not only smile in passing, but will find common ground with you and ask you to join her for her morning hike. She makes friends easily, and then she keeps them. She is loyal and knows that deeply connecting with people is more important than just waving as she passes by. She isn’t a fake friend, and she won’t talk crap about you behind your back.

A Colorado Girl, even the blonde ones, is intelligent. A Colorado Girl takes the time to study, not just in school, but out in her native surroundings. She isn’t just book smart, but she can also navigate her way through the woods, build a fire with sticks, and cook a meal without a recipe. The Colorado Girl learns how to bait a hook, sculpt a clay vase, and do advanced biochemical equations, all in a day’s work.

She is independent and doesn’t need a man to shovel snow or drive slick mountain roads, but she does need her man to want to do those things anyway. A Colorado Girl loves her kids, but she is a not cooer or goochie-goochie-gooer. She wants her children to be healthy, active, and self-reliant. But don't mistake that fortitude for a lack of compassion, desire, or concern, a Colorado Girl brings all of those things to the table as well.

A Colorado Girl is a complex package of independence, class, and intelligence.