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The one with the cute knees

We have a home video of my older sister and I modeling our new Christmas clothes. From 1987.

I was three years old. Almost four.

I was kinda cute, I must admit.

We each had a handful of dresses and Dad had received a new video camera equaling the perfect combo for a modeling show. He put on some sweet tunes and was more than happy to narrate as though he were a beauty pageant host.

We came out from our room, bashful at first, not sure what we were supposed to do. Dad had to do some encouraging along the way....asking us to twirl, curtsy or asking question like "who gave the dress to you?" Of course, as the modeling progressed, we became more and more comfortable in front of the camera. So much so, we'd hear in the background "Minda, put your dress down!" after I'd get so excited and my twirling would become a bit aggressive.

Also, teaching a three year old to curtsy is quite comical. Each time the curtsy looked different, but most of the time it just involved some sort of bending of my knees.

In this particular video, at one point, dad has zoomed in on the new shoes and socks I'd received and did his bit sounding something like (said in most announcer-ish voice) "And next we have Minda's new black shiny shoes! And LOOK AT THOSE SOCKS, people! What a nice lace ruffle to top the socks off."  (He's very animated, even today) :-)

On that particular commentary segment, he also added "and look at those knees. What cute knees you have, Minda."

Growing up, we really liked watching the home videos. It's fun to see yourself at a younger age. It's fun to have memories- not because you remember them, but because you've been able to experience them again and again via video.

Can I completely honest with you? It wasn't until two years ago that I realized my knees were, in fact, NOT cute. Seriously. I was shocked. One day I was wearing a skirt and thought to myself, knees in general are really unattractive. Why have I always assumed my knees were cute? And I immediately knew the answer to that question. I have cute knees...dad said so.

So here's to you, dad. Thank you for telling a 3 year old girl she had cute knees. It may have seemed silly to you and just something to fill the space of that modeling video. It may have just been one of those things where you were finding things to talk about so you could hear your cool announcer voice. (and yes, your announcer voice is cool.) But thank you. That has always been one body issue I never struggled with :-) There were plenty others, but my knees? Nah, I had cute ones. Dad says so!







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