This New Year’s Southern Belle Resolution: Amy Schumer Style

You know who I think is awesome? Amy Schumer. That girl cracks me up. It also occurs to me, I’m a lot like her. You would never know it unless you know me rather well. But I have this dark little sarcastic sardonic side that only comes out around certain people. It’s rather glorious, if I’m being honest.

 

Which gets me to thinking, wouldn’t the world be better off if I showed that side of me more? Yes, I very much believe in being a good, kind person. But if I’m being perfectly honest, there are some people who just bring out the bad in us. And isn’t it better to be frank about that? We can’t always be the happy shining halos that some of us portray in social media and blog posts- me very much included. **waves hand emphatically**

 

So my New Year’s resolution, or one of them along with hitting the gym more, is to just be more honest about who I am. For instance, you know what’s the best way to get a guy who is arrogantly asking you out on social media and tells you to switch football team loyalty to leave you the hell alone? Make fun of him. Online. In a video that get broadcast to the entire Southeastern United States:

 

Yep. That’s one way to do it.

 

You see, it’s wrongly assumed that all Southern Belles are these super polite, speaking insults under your breath, passive aggressive little things. Wrong. I happen to come from a line of Southern Belles who say exactly what’s on their mind and are some of the most educated women I know. One of the best examples I can think of is my great-great grandmother Belle Peterson Inge of Mobile, Alabama. Belle started the Mobile chapter of the Colonial Dames, she was an Adelphean at Wesleyan (predecessor to Alpha Delta Pi), she was the President of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and on and on later getting involved in poitics. Because of course. Well, according to family lore her husband or her father had the very first car in Mobile and so Belle would drive it on the wrong side of the road- because who was going to stop her? Not any-damn-body.

 

 

A year ago I waxed poetic about finding one’s tribe, and how my friends and family got me out of some dark times. The same was true was this year, I found even more friends, widened my circle even more. I did some scary things, like got my own house and a car loan. But the bravest thing I can do this upcoming year is to be more honest.

 

This isn’t to say I’ve been dishonest, because I haven’t my friends. But I’ve definitely been careful with what I shared. Yes, I’ve been vulnerable and shared some measures of heartache. Yes, I’ve shared the inspirational moments. But I’m going to be more real with y’all. I’m going to share even the raw moments. The funny ones. The moments where I have conversations with friends and… sometimes not the nicest things come out.

 

You see, as much as many of us preach “do the right thing” and “say the right thing”, as much as I’ve said it myself even…  I don’t always do it. So here’s to being more like the Amy Schumer version of a Southern Belle: the women who can exude class, wear her grandmothers pearls, and let out a series of curse words that sounds beautiful. Here’s to being more like me.

 

 

Love to all y’all,

 

Molly