You do enough, you are enough, you have enough...

I've written these three phrases up on the bedroom wardrobe mirrors. And I get to see them every time I look up from just laying here, or from my laptop. I placed them in that order to match the contents of each space of the wardrobe - on M's side, is the "you do enough", on my side, is the "you have enough", and in the middle, our shared space, "you are enough."

So my side, overflowing in clothes, some of them impulse purchases, overflowing in shoes that don't fit well enough but-hey-they-were-my-size, now has a reminder that "you have enough." That another jacket or jeans, or a new pair of shoes, will not make me a better or different or more interesting person. It will just make me the same person with even more clothes. Which really helps when the Gap/Old Navy/Piperlime emails show up in my email. Because I order stuff from them sometimes, especially for A, and then the e-mails keep coming. And who in this household has time to unsubscribe constantly from e-mail lists? 

But those e-mails get me thinking about what I could buy, and then I look up and I remember that I don't need anything. Even on great sale. I'm enough and I have enough. More than enough. And then I think that, "hey, instead of buying another top, I could bring up the bag of clothing to give away and turn that skirt into a top for summer...."

You do enough. (Don't start another project just because you thought of it).

You have enough. (Yeah, and a new top from an old skirt is still a new top. Leave it in the basement, sister.)

You have e-mail! (Uh-oh).

The online shopping (even if most of it is just window shopping) has calmed down in the face of those scrawled words. But the last e-mail with all the new summer sandals produced a different reaction in me altogether....

When someone says sandals, my feet get all ready for summer comfort. For open toes, bare feet, and rubber soles. What are these objects of torture all over the "HOTTEST summer deals" email? I don't care how "in" espadrilles are, why can't these shoes (that I wouldn't buy anyway, because of course I know I have enough already) come in normal heights? What is the point of shoes like this?

Have you seen women walk in these? I saw one last weekend, and next to her was a guy in Converse sneakers. He was walking and she was....sort of hobbling. Not hobbling, but teetering a bit. That's when I realized the real purpose of these shoes.

To slow or handicap the person wearing them. To make that person a bit weaker. But then it made me smile just a little bit, because the people you need to make weaker with handicapping physical add-ons are those who are actually stronger than you. Things that limit the person's range of motion.

Tight skirts and dresses suddenly make more sense. Women must be really strong if it takes so many different ways to limit their movement.