Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?

September 15 through October 15 is the month long national celebration of Hispanic Heritage which recognizes contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and also a celebration of the heritage and culture.  I wanted to take part in this month’s celebration to feature one of my favorite Mexican women Frida Kahlo, the Mexican painter, who is highly known and recognized for herself portraits or as we like to call them, “selfies”.  My love for Frida blossomed through a friend of mine who adored Frida.  I learned so much about Frida, her life, her paintings, and most importantly, her pain.  As a Mexican American, it makes me very proud to say that Frida was a strong Mexican woman, who paved the way for other women artists and became such an inspiration for women in general. 

Frida Kahlo de Rivera was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyocaoan, Mexico City, Mexico and started her paintings after she was severely injured in a bus accident. Kahlo suffered several injuries resulting from a steel handrail, which went through her hip.  When Frida went home to recover from her accident, she took up painting and finished her first self portrait the following year. Kahlo later married Diego Rivera, a Mexican muralist who she watched create the mural, “The Creation” in her school’s lecture hall before her accident.  Frida dealt with infidelity, miscarriages, pain and even experienced the ultimate betrayal by her own sister and her husband Diego.  When this happened, Frida cut off most of her dark hair. The marriage union between the two was not ideal, traditional or easy, but they loved each other and managed to stay together and even remarried after they had divorced. Frida unfortunately suffered from health issues, which eventually took her life in July of 1954. Since Frida’s death, she has been viewed by many as a Mexican icon and a female of great creativity.  Salma Hayek later went on to portray the Mexican artist in a 2002 film titled, “Frida”.

One of my favorite paintings is, The Two Fridas (1939), which show two versions of Frida sitting side by side, which was painted during her divorce with Diego.    The painting represents her deep hurt after losing her husband.  One Frida sits on the left (the Frida that felt rejected by Diego), with her blouse ripped open, exposing her broken and bleeding heart.  The Frida on the right (the Frida that is still loved by Diego), has a heart that is intact and holds a picture of Diego.  I think the representation of hurt in this painting can be felt by many people who have endured a broken heart. The saying is true, "A picture is worth a thousand words."  Frida didn't downplay her hurt or hide any of her feelings.  The representation of all her emotions were there in her art.

Frida was not only an incredible artist, but she was also a fashionista.  She created herself and her identity through her uni brow, her love of bright colors, the flowers in her hair and beautiful attire.  There is no other Frida.  She was such a trendsetter, blowing away the competition. 

"I use to think I was the strangest person in the world, but then I thought, there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do.  I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too.  Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true.  I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you." - Frida Kahlo 

 Thank you Frida for showing me that I'm not alone, or better yet, that we as women, are not alone.   

I Don't Know How She Does It

Have any of you seen that movie?  The one starring the famous Sarah Jessica Parker, or as we all know her, “Carrie Bradshaw”?  I recently saw this movie a while back and I loved it.   “I Don’t Know How She Does It”, is a movie about a working mom trying to balance work, kids, her spouse, and herself.  Lately – well actually the beginning of this school year has been such a juggling act and its sad because it literally just started a few weeks ago.  It’s been a bigger adjustment this year and I don’t know why I don’t have myself together yet.  Our week consists of dance, football practice, church, football games and if we’re lucky, we actually will get one day during the week where we actually eat all together as a family.  My days of running during the week are gone.  Nooooo!  I’m not use to this and I will have to say, I went a little cray, cray from the feeling of “not having it all together”.   I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, but I guess I just wanted to vent.  This mom had a moment, but then again, haven’t we all? (Please say yes. I don't want to be the only one.)

I’m 29 years old and I have a 14 year old stepson and a 5 year old daughter.  Before I gave birth to my daughter, I was already on the mom discovery process because I now had a stepson.  At 23 years old, becoming a mom to an 8 year old was honestly kind of weird and I had no idea what to do, how to act or what to say.  People say that when you give birth, you immediately just know what to do and things come naturally.  I’d like to say that is mostly true, but it doesn’t apply when you become a step-parent.  The road I must admit has come with highs and lows, bumps and stars.  Luckily, I was accepted with arms wide open into this little boy’s heart.  The older I’ve gotten the more experienced and assured I feel as a mother to not only him, but my daughter as well.  My hands are pretty full with the both of them.  The stages of life they are both in are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum.  I have a daughter who is into Justin Bieber, coloring and everything sparkly.  She depends on me in many levels.  My stepson on the other hand is going through puberty, liking girls and becoming a young man.  He is starting to get embarrassed by things I use to get embarrassed about with my parents.  I just stop and say, “Hey, you have young parents.  What could you possibly be embarrassed about?”   But I guess parents are parents and yes, we, I mean they can be embarrassing, when you’re that age. 

Most women in my generation are working moms.  Speaking for myself, I love being a working mom.  I love that I have my own career, my own identity aside from motherhood.  I love being a mom and I am my kids biggest fan, always there to support them and provide them with all that I can, but I do love that I get the best of both worlds. BUT and yes that’s a big but – it is nowhere near easy and at times I feel I could use an assistant (especially here recently), but realistically, we all know that’s not possible.  So I’m like an clown juggling ten balls in the air, trying my hardest not to drop one. 

So how do I do it?  How do I balance work, kids, my husband and myself?  Well the answer is there is no answer.  I just do it.  Sometimes I fail, but most times I succeed.  I’m a multitasker at heart, so when one ball drops I freak out.  I like order and when things don’t go as ideal as I dream them up in my head to be, I can lose myself in the process.  So I was M.I.A from my blog for a few weeks trying to focus my time and attention on the kids, but I have regrouped, put my big girl panties on and decided to stop worrying when things are getting hectic.  (or at least try to) 

I enjoyed a weekend getaway with my husband last week for our 5 year wedding anniversary and I collected my thoughts during my church’s sisterhood group meeting this Wednesday.  How good it feels to have women around you to lift you up!  

So I know I’m not alone with the juggling act of life.  How do you do it?

Oh and if you haven’t see the movie, check out the trailer here.  I’m sure you’ll love it.  It’s so relatable.