Be Our Guest–In Which Nadia Explains a Mother’s Love

Dear Lily June,

As a reminder, I’ve put out a call to anyone (seriously! anyone!) who stumbles upon this blog to write you a letter for your upcoming birthday on May 13. Below is the first of these I received, with my introduction to the fellow blogger who sent it.

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When I first went to Nadia’s fashion blog, No Size Two, I was immediately struck by her chosen tagline,

“Real girls aren’t perfect, [and] perfect girls aren’t real.”

So much of the international fashion industry pushes toward the concept total freakin’ lie that there’s one ideal body type. The trouble is, that “perfection” comes from the kind of body that you’ll rarely find in nature and is more often created through airbrushing and photoshopping.

There is a depth of beauty in reality that cannot be constructed by a screen or captured in its entirety by a lens, and Nadia radiates that depth. Through her love of fashion and life, motherhood and humanity, she has the kind of unquantifiable style and grace I hope you’ll aspire to, not some artificial number on a scale or tag.

As much as I admire her outfits and jewelry, her sense of coordination between those two, and her confidence to put herself out there, what I really look up to in her writing is this: Nine times out of ten, her posts end with her wishing whoever stopped by her blog well.

Putting that kind of good vibe out into the world, all while being able to rock any print from houndstooth to polka dot to zebra and while refusing to edit her images so that what you see is really what you get sets, IMHO, a standard for beauty that we should all aspire to. I include the beauty of her words to you below, Lily.

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Dear Lily June,

First and foremost, happy birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day full of laughter and love, and that all your dreams will come true.

The one thing that you should know about your mother is just how much she cares about you. The amount of thought she puts into how to make you happy and to teach you things astounds me. It even makes me a little jealous sometimes!!

I think that if she could choose, she would give you her heart literally all wrapped up with a bow on top, just to make sure you have enough love to last you the rest of your life. Because figuratively, you already have it of course.

I have a little baby girl who is exactly to the date three months older than you, and here are some of the things she taught me:

There is no time and/or use to be fake.

If you are happy, laugh, and if you are sad, cry. If you are angry, scream and cry, whatever makes you feel better. Just let your true feelings show; those who can’t handle your feelings don’t deserve them.

 Always keep a little bit of your innocence, of that childlike wonder in your heart.

That is what makes us get up in the morning – the promise of hope and a better tomorrow.

 The hours may seem long but the years are short.

 Time flies by so quickly, so spend it with the ones you love.

It doesn’t matter how big the house is, it is all about how happy the home is.

I do hope that you will teach your mother similar lessons and so much more. And if the only lesson you teach her is that you love her, that is more than enough.

I end my letter with one of my favorite quotes by Agatha Christie:

 “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”

Keeping you in my thoughts and heart.

Lots of well wishes,

Nadia from No Size Two

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 Picture Credits:

• By asenat29 – https://www.flickr.com/photos/72153088@N08/6510934443, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34971379