Through the Keyhole

When I became a mom in 2017, I opened social media to find a culture shift had begun. Countless influencers who were suggesting that "less" was everything. The trends at the time told me to declutter, simplify, and strip my life of anything unnecessary. Nurseries were to be filled with wooden toys, that realistically, no child actually played with. Living rooms were swathed in sterile white and beige, with no pops of color and no personality. The goal was calm, minimalism, order... homes that looked more like hotels than havens of family life.  To be honest, I bought into some of it. It did look nice - clean, polished, serene. But the need to assimilate faded quickly. I believe it was because, a hotel is a nice place to visit but home is where you live. Our home is a picture of our life story, clues to our interests and life stages. Home is a place to make memories, to grow up, raise a family or grow old in. Home doesn't feel like home when it looks like a hotel. I no...

My dresser drawers are stuffed full. Folded and refolded again, they’re packed with a familiar uniform: jeans in varying shades of denim and stacks of graphic tees — most of them faith-based. Verses. Promises. A few with clever Christian slogans. They were comfortable, practical, and modest enough. But something always felt… off. They were what I wore because it was easy. Because it was expected. Because they were "just clothes." But now they mostly live in the drawers — jammed shut like a closet full of unopened letters — while my dresses and skirts sway gently from hangers, waiting for their turn in the daylight. And lately, they’ve gotten it. The Slow Unraveling of the Modern Uniform I never made a dramatic decision to stop wearing jeans. I didn’t swear off T-shirts or donate all my pants to charity in a moment of cinematic resolve. It happened slowly, almost without my noticing. At first, I just grabbed a dress on a Sunday because it felt nice. Then a sk...