Woke up gorgeous, AGAIN

To know me, is to know that 1. I’m an entire Titi and 2. Titi luh da kids. Of all the nieces and nephews that I adore, one little face in particular comes to mind, Lulu. A petite ball of sunshine and kindness, so in tune with the world around her that you can’t help but smile while you watch her navigate it all. One thing about Lulu is, baby girl has no problem being her own hype woman. A typical exchange with her goes as follows: 

Me: Lulu you look sooo cuuuuute! 

Lulu: I know! *smiles sweetly*

And she truly does. As a baby, you could catch her crawling to the mirror just to kiss her own reflection or simply study her own face in wonder as a toddler. When she started getting big enough to somewhat use words you could hear her from the next room shouting at herself in the mirror as she twirled in her O.O.T.D. “I so pretty!!! 

If that isn’t precious enough she also makes time to be everyone else’s hype woman. She is not going to let you leave her presence until she finds 3-5 things to affirm about you, it’s kind of how she says “I love you.” Isn’t that wild? A whole 6 year old with a grip on the beauty of self love and affirmation. Tiny humans will preach if you let them. 

I can’t help but want to protect her at all costs. From the way life and culture and the ghetto-ness of earth tend to try to snatch that from us as women. Like, when did we get to the point where we let somebody’s crusty son allow us to believe that we were anything less than stunning? Why are rando’s at gas stations telling us we are beautiful more than we tell ourselves? 

I recently came to realize that I can be the first person to be guilty of hyping up everyone around me & shrinking back when it’s my turn. I can’t quite pinpoint where that started, but I can identify the day where something switched in me. Where I caught myself in the mirror and I just let myself press pause for a second. And in that moment where time stood still, I legitimately caught the spirit of Lulu. I realized, I was in love with what was staring back at me. It did something to my heart, and that “something” told me to capture the moment. To document the feels. So I did what I know to do, I put pen to paper. And this my franns, is what I saw:

Ode to my own reflection:

You smile and butterflies fight to escape my sternum;

lined lips form a crescent moon lighting up the darkest of nights.

You are wisdom and care.

You speak and your voice soothes the wounded. 

Protecting yours with the strength of 10,000 armies

You are rib; fragile yet sturdy, protector and protected. 

Every part of your frame is a glorious melody 

Cleavage, curvaceous backside, scar lined abdomen along the way

every groove and dip singing praises in unison.

You make heaven applaud

Hell tremble

and earth stand still.

You are womanhood embodied in just the right package

Soft hands that gracefully hold stories waiting to be told.

Never less than, always enough.

As we approach hot girl summer, I think it’s high time we take a cue from Lulu. Be our own hype woman, allow ourselves to really linger in our own reflections, and fall in love with what we see. 

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A post shared by Msendoo Mbachilin (@kamsendoo)

About the Author

Mayra (@ypwawa): Mayra is a Cali girl hanging out in Chicago! She recently completed her master’s degree - the first in her family! *snap snap* Mayra has a big heart, you can always count on her for a listening ear, to check if you’ve eaten, or just give you a hug when you need it most. She really is a titi to all the kids! Mayra is always stepping out of the box and learning that she can be both/and. She may be an admissions counselor by day but her true passions are preaching and writing. Mayra is also the editor for T2MG.