bringing pretty back

[article can be found here]


i saw this article mentioned on another blog and i'm so glad that i clicked the link to read. it does such a great job of putting a lot of my rambling thoughts and ideas into actual, coherent words. i've written about modesty and purity and all that good stuff before. and while that is not the focus of this article, it's all related. but i'll try and keep this post to the article specifically. (note, i kind of fail at this)
i think this article is so relevant today. i love that pretty (for this specific author) is defined as a combination of beauty and innocence. i pretty much want to just copy and paste every word from this article. i love love love the part about projecting innocence and how that inspires men to protect and defend it. captivating does such a great job of delving into this particular topic and lady in waiting even has a chapter or two as well. those books have really encouraged me to not only embrace my innocence but to desire a boy who will protect and defend it. 
and now it is time for "is this too real aka should i really even write this down, much less actually blog this idea/question?!?" it has on occasion (okay multiple occasions) crossed my mind that what if the boy doesn't really care how innocent i am, like what if it's just no big deal. and then i realize that obviously he wouldn't be THE boy if that's how he felt. but then i go down the whole road of what if my expectations are too high? and then i think about how i really can't imagine making out with random boys each night, much less doing anything else so we're pretty much back to square one now. and maybe sometimes i even wonder if there are any cute, ambitious boys out there who would not only understand innocence but want to protect and cherish it. but, at the end of the day, the thought of doing something to tarnish that innocence just isn't an option. so i guess the boy will just have to make an appearance at some point. 
and back to the article...hotness is just a commodity. i, again, love how this article differentiates between being hot and being pretty. to say that hotness is a commodity brings a smile to my face and i like that the movie grease is referenced. i remember watching this movie when i was in 4th or 5th grade. i liked the music a lot. but i remember, even when i was that young, being slightly confused as to what was wrong with Sandra Dee? obviously she was pretty but why did she have to change to get her boy. obviously as i got older, i understood more aspects of the movie but that message has always bothered me. and i'm glad to see it addressed here. what kind of message is that sending that in order to get a guy you need to change who are you, and the changes really are not for the better. 
and again with should i actually post this or not...so, while i went through that awkward stage in middle school that everyone goes through, i rebounded from it pretty well..mentally i mean. i don't wake up every morning and look in the mirror and hate what i see. i mean, sure some days i really like my hair and other days i wish i was a little tanner but nothing major. but naturally it enters a girls mind that maybe she just isn't pretty (or hot) enough to ever find someone. like maybe if i was a little more this, or a little less that then i would have already found the boy. it's kind of hard when you go out and the girls you're with attract all sorts of attention from guys. but then, once i evaluate the situation and am truly honest with myself, i realize that i don't really want that kind of attention. i mean everyone likes to feel attractive and desired but ultimately i have a deeper want. and really, that's perfectly fine. this also makes me wonder where i'm supposed to find the boy at? i would never say that anything is impossible, after all God does like to use the unlikely situations to show his power, but is it really that likely that i'm going to stumble upon the boy at a bar? i personally don't think so but i'm clearly not in control of this story. i realize that church would be a likely place to meet the boy, but i'm not going from church to church just in hopes of finding him. i really do believe that God does not desire that. and i'd like to be pursued by the boy, not the other way around (but boy is that another blog post completely) so to sum up this somewhat random tangent, i like the distinction between being hot and pretty...because most of the time i never think of myself as hot...but i'd much rather be in the pretty boat anyways.
the line that nobody wants to be thought of as innocent, the good girl, kind of makes me want to cry. and even more so, it makes me want to cry for all the little girls out there who need good women role models and people to tell them that it's okay to be the good girl. it's not always an easy path but it is definitely the right one. and i'm still on that path but it's not one that i regret. and i know that i won't ever regret it, no matter what ends up happening. i really can't explain how much i just want to tell all the girls in middle and high school that it's worth it to be labeled the good girl. (and again with the honesty, i wonder if those girls would even want to hear that from me. it's not like i have this "successful story" to tell them. i mean i'm still looking for the boy.) i know without a doubt that this is one message i will pound into my daughter(s)...you know, the ones i don't have yet with the boy i haven't met yet but i may be planning her wardrobe vicariously through a certain little girl already. [definitely a story for another day] 
i think this article should be shared with girls everywhere. but especially those girls who are trying to be pretty but sometimes wonder if it's even worth it. because girls, it totally is. i really never thought that one of my passions would be for girls in middle and high school but i think that it totally is. i just think that's such an impressionable age. and maybe it's because i loved it when the "young women" of the church did stuff with us when i was that age. i loved being in their class or just talking with them after church on a Sunday. and maybe, if the cycle continues, one day my little girl will have "young women" in her life who encourage her to bring pretty back and be the good girl.