I am not a dress person. I love dresses and skirts (especially with pockets) and I own a lot of them – but when it comes time to put them on I get all self conscious. Am I too dressed up? Will I have to get on the floor with one of the kids? What if it’s windy? Is this skirt too short if I have to carry someone? So, I usually take the dress off, hang it back up and slip into a pair of leggings or jeans.

But my mentality on dresses changed a few weeks ago. It was out of the blue, totally unexpected and by the time the 2 minute conversation was over I was looking at myself and dresses in a totally different way.

Let me set the scene: We’re in the car, driving from one activity to another, the kids have been fighting and whining non-stop for the last chunk of time and I’m ready to go home and relax.

Lucas (my youngest): Moooooooom?

Me: *sigh* Yes?

Lucas: Why don’t you wear a dress?

Me: Today? We had baseball practice and went to the park, those aren’t places I like to wear dresses to honey.

Alex (middle son, age 7): But Baylee (our neighbor, age 5), wears dresses everyday and she says she looks beautiful in them and she plays outside. Mom, you would look beautiful in a dress.

Lucas: or a skirt, they make you pretty.

And with that, I saw dresses in a completely different way. Who cares if I’m a little over dressed somewhere, my kids think I look pretty! Who cares if I’m running around the park in a skirt, it might not be practical, but my kids think I look pretty! I made a promise to myself to put true effort into wearing dresses/skirts more often. And I started right away when we went out to dinner for Alex’s birthday.

When I came downstairs from getting changed Alex and Lucas noticed immediately “Mom! You have a dress! You look pretty!” And that made the little bit of tugging and mental worry I was still feeling disappear. My kids were so happy that I was wearing a dress. In fact, they were so happy that they went upstairs to change into handsome clothes, and told daddy he had to wear handsome clothes too. And, being all dressed up – and feeling good about ourselves made it one of the nicest nights out we’ve had in a very long time.

So there you have it, a totally random story about my clothes! I’ve been wearing dresses about once a week since this conversation took place, and I already feel far less uncomfortable about them than I previously did. It took a little encouragement to get me past myself but it was totally worth it! I feel better about myself, and overtime my kids see me in a skirt or a dress, their little eyes light up and they always tell me I look pretty – and that’s pretty awesome.