Knobby Knees & Chicken Legs

As I mentioned last week, I'm pretty certain I am a time traveler. My oldest started 7th grade on Monday. Not only do I remember taking him to kindergarten with his baby brother in tow like it was yesterday I remember when I was in 7th grade. I was so worried about everything when I was a kid (still am); it's weird. Jake was so cool about everything. Easy breezy, no worries except what bus he needed to catch for the quick ride home. He was more involved with school clothes shopping this year and for the most part he and I agreed on not only the styles of clothes but the prices too. I can only hope his younger sister is the same way. 

From a young age I fretted about what I was going to wear to school every single day. I would stay up way past my bedtime to try on and retry on clothes in front of the long mirror that leaned against the wall (I now know this was my first problem). I would try different ways to make my ankles look bigger. I would wear 2-3 pairs of socks with Keds. Tight fit. I did this until I was 19 - no lie. My legs were just odd; long and lanky with no form really. Tons of scars from literally climbing trees and taking baths with actual glasses to rinse my hair out rather than something practical like plastic. My ankles were and still are for the most part as small as my wrists unfortunately they don't gradually round up through the calf and then eventually the thigh. Simply put my legs can be summed up from bottom to top - stick attached to knobby knee attached to something equivalent to the size of a 10 month old child.

{image via google images}

I remember being obsessed with what the other girls were wearing and would beg my mom to buy me the same types of clothes. Please just not the knickers my Nanny sewed for me. Problem was they never looked the same on me as they did on the the others. It's true, I have pictures to prove it. Even though I was skinny mini up until I bore the now 7th grader I never ever liked my frame. "You have beautiful long legs" my Nanny would say to me "you should be a dancer". My immediate reaction or thought would be that of self-deprecation no doubt..."yes, my legs are long but I have a little torso - I look like a spider" or "sure, I should dance - the chicken dance". (Later I would refer to myself as Chicken Large rather than Chicken Little - sorry it still makes me laugh). And let me tell you in the era of tapered Guess jeans and stir up leggings it was a knobby kneed chicken legged girls worst nightmare! 

It wasn't until my young adulthood that I was termed "Chicken Legs with Knobby Knees", by the Ex. I thought to myself "What an a--hole - too bad he's right".  All of my fears of someone else noticing what I had always known came true in the very moment he vocalized his observation, light heartedly albeit. Other than getting a calf implant and lipo in the thighs for a short term fix there truly is nothing I can do except embrace it. I did not purposely stand in the Chicken Legs with a side of Knobby Knee line.  I make it a ritual now to say "I love my legs" anytime I catch a glimpse of  my reflection and just want to exhale in disgust. 

86 Big Mama for Change: 
I vote for boot cut & flair jeans to be back in style! SCREW skinny jeans! They look good on 2% of the population.

Note to self:
1. Be thankful for what you have in the biggest way; some people aren't fortunate enough to have 1 much less 2 full functioning legs.

2. Do not tease your hair in every direction like Will Smith in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air to divert attention away from said Chicken Legs & Knobby Knees.

3. When you're comfortable in your own skin you are naturally happy, confident and in control. Let's be that.