Beautiful piece, Shannon. I want it to not be in your pub so Human Parts will pick it up!

I relate to a lot of this, and I’m finding a lot of healing through parenting Tzivia. When I tell her girls can look any way, I’m telling little me that too.

This week, I don’t remember how it came up, but I told her some women remove hair from their arm pits and legs and faces. I was telling her how it gives people the idea that men have hair there and women don’t, when really anybody can have hair anywhere.

I said someday when she grew more hair, if she ever wanted to play around with shaving or something, I could help her, but she never needed to, and there’s nothing about being a girl or a woman that means you can’t be hairy.

Then we looked at my dark leg hair — “Whoa, your legs are really hairy!” she said — and at her little leg fuzz, and then we cuddled, and she felt good, and I felt good, and I thought about how much easier it’s (hopefully) going to be for them.

You’re a wonderful woman, Shannon.