Dangerous, Unsustainable, Beauty

Wow! 
Here’s a perfect example of the gorgeous and wildly creative
holiday store windows around town.

As I was staring at this image, I thought
“I want one of those!, I want a pine needle dress that looks like that”!
Can you imagine the smell?!!
Divine…heavenly…Pine.

But then the infuriatingly practical side of me took over,
and I couldn’t help but notice that it would probably be very heavy 
on the body, 
those pine boughs can weigh a ton!
and the needles would stick you in places I can’t mention,
places pine needles were never meant to go.

So…
That pine needle dress is dangerous,unsustainable, beauty.
It’s a metaphor for what a lot of us are carrying around in our lives.
The burdens we will bear, so that beauty is what we present to the outside world.

In LA a lot of people have beautiful, expensive cars.
They have chosen to live in a one room apartment, 
with furniture left over from college, in order to afford the payments.
It is a barely sustainable beauty they choose to present to the world.

I know women who are deeply in debt in order to always have the 
latest designer handbag, shoes and clothes.
Every day they wear more than my fathers first house cost on their bodies.
They only eat gum, coffee and cigarettes in order to fit the samples,
and afford their charade.
It is a dangerous, heavy burden they bear in order to look beautiful to the world.

Don’t even get me started on plastic surgery!
There are some girls, yes, girls, who never take a vacation,
they never see the world, in order to save for their next procedure.

When we are willing to sacrifice our quality of life,
to wear that heavy, prickly, pine needle dress, 
that vision of beauty,
that is dangerously unsustainable,
you get the gist,
it never turns out well.

In my imagination though, I’d still like to BORROW that dress for just one night!
Like Cinderella at the ball, 
only I’d wear my Spanx and possibly sweatpants underneath
to protect myself from those pesky needles.
I’d have on flats, not heels, because I can’t be wearing a heavy dress
AND have my feet killing me!
and I’d have to remember not to stand too close to the fireplace!