Red Plate Girl
I walked through the door and for the first time in my life I was truly surprised. It was my sixteenth birthday party and my mom had worked together with some family friends to throw me one of the most memorable birthday celebrations I’ve ever had. I was surrounded by my family, friends, and church family. I felt so special. It was my day and I had the plate to prove it – the red plate
Our friends always had the latest things and I always loved visiting their house to see what they were up to next.
One of their daughters introduced me to Michael Jackson and convinced me Thriller was the coolest thing on the planet. She talked me into using peroxide and a hairdryer to color my hair blonde… er… orange and showed me the magic of the almost pure white cover-up stick. She was right about Thriller. On this day, the red plate was introduced to me and it read, “You are special today.”
And I was. The plate made it so.
The problem was that as the evening dissipated away in laughter, the secure feeling the plate gave me did too. You see, the plate confirmed the lies that were swimming inside my head. I was special today. Just today. Tomorrow you shall become ordinary again. You will see.
The world will come back into balance again and your red plate moment will be gone.
Tomorrow, you will be a brunette in a blonde world. You will have to yell to be heard and by the time you do that you will sound angry, so don’t speak up at all. You’ll need to study for months to accomplish what your classmates can accomplish in days. You will be the girl who always gets the 3.2-grade average and watches as all of her classmates go up to receive their free Mariner’s tickets and honor roll certificates.
You’ll be vice-president of your senior class; but, only when the president of your class leaves for your senior year unexpectedly will you get to be the class president you longed to be for four years. You will be the only one of four girls who is not picked to be a cheerleader in a tiny school and everyone will hear about it. Your creative spirit is a waste because very few make a living at creativity.
Creativity and success come together only by chance so good luck.
By the way, Red Plate Girl, your sphere of influence will always be small because you are never the prettiest girl in the room. You are quite depressive and your friends will ultimately set you up with couch potatoes and that will nail the coffin at your chance to make something of yourself. And you will accept this life because you know that it is what you deserve; but, enjoy your red plate tonight.
These words did not only play in my head on the drive home from my party. They rewound each day and replayed for twenty years and I ate them up.
On my journey, I have been surrounded by plenty of people who have loved me but only a handful have actually been brave enough to make a difference in my thought life. Some invested for years. Some just went out of their way to say just what I needed to hear in a moment never to be seen again. Man, I wish I could go back and thank them. But thanks to all these people who were willing to invest in me, I am able to see my world much differently than I did as a teenager.
We need more red plate moments for it is not today that we are special. It is every day.
Go, Red Plate Girl. Go!
I now own a red plate of my own. The wording still bothers me but it is a good reminder to me that if I replace the negative tapes in my mind with positive truths this short, silly, and creative brunette mom in yoga pants can and will make a positive difference for others today… and every day.
Today my plate overflows with blessings – none of which my old mind would’ve ever believed I would have. My life is far from perfect, but it is full of hope. Don’t buy into the negative voices in your head. They were put there by people who, sadly, were never freed from their own. Be free.
Go, Red Plate Girl. Go!
Waechtersbach Plate, You Are Special Today Red Plate