My seventeen-year-old daughter knows how to own it. She used to be the mascot for her middle school, but set it aside during high school, until recently. Leave it to her senior year to put on the high school mascot costume. Most people think being a mascot would be embarrassing enough on its own. Take into consideration that the costume is a lambkin (a young lamb) and that adds a whole other layer of head shaking. Her high school mascot was voted the second worst in the country only next to the sea slugs. Hailey didn’t care. She donned the evil-looking, man-sized suit with pride.
In front of thousands of people “Clyde” the lambkin came alive. My girl danced her heart out. She did the sprinkler, mashed potato, and worm. Standing on a ladder she directed the school band and struck the dab pose while doing it. The crowd cheered and laughed at her antics. If she had any inhibitions she checked them at the door. There wasn’t a trace of embarrassment or hesitation. Even when people figured out who was inside the costume that girl just kept on going.
She put herself all in and won the mascot competition for the night. No one asked her to do any of it. She volunteered of her own accord. There was no training or practicing, it was just Hailey being her enthusiastic self. Her only worry was that the weather might not cooperate, in which case she wouldn’t be permitted to wear the costume. Other than a slight sprinkle of rain the weather was perfect. High-five to Hailey! She knows how to own it in a costume and in her own skin. May we all learn to be so unapologetically ourselves doing what makes us happy, despite what others may think.
