Love your body

I was looking for coupons online today for Victoria Secret. I wanted to pick up a little "sumpin, sumpin" before we go to Las Vegas in a couple weeks, and I ran across a contest where they ask you to describe why you love your body. I thought it would be fun to share what I typed up.

I stand in front of the mirror naked. After the rigors of breastfeeding, loosing 65 pounds, the birth of 3 children and 3 miscarriages later, I see sagging, shrunken breasts, a flabby abdomen (streaked with stretch marks resembling a road map), cellulite, and skin that is all too quickly loosing it's youthful elasticity.

I have been on a journey with my body that involved the struggle and conquering of my battle with weight. This journey involved the healthy (and maybe unlikely) birth of our now 5 year old daughter. This journey involved the stillbirth at 38 weeks gestation of our second daughter. And this journey involved a placental abruption at 23 weeks gestation where we knew our first son outside the womb for only 2 weeks.

I don't have the ideal body, but I am not ashamed. I am proud, and I love my body because it is a tribute, reminder, and testament of the journey we have been through. And I wouldn't trade it for the most perfect body in the world.

I then tried to copy and paste what I wrote into their submission box and quickly realized they have a character limit for how much you can submit. How do you sum up your struggles in approximately 375 characters? Well, I submitted this instead.

It wasn't what I originally wanted to submit, but I hope it relays the intended message.