I love my hair. I love how it changes color from my crown and grows into lighter shades full of highlights and split ends. I love how it feels like corn silk after a shower and it's clean and dry. I love how it curls and waves and whips in the wind, and shines in the light. I love how it breaks and damages and tangles, because it reminds me that no matter what, all life is delicate and nothing is truly simple.

I love my skin, and how it glows in the light and how it has so much yellow and yet I'm still so pale. I love how clear it is at times and I love my acne, because it proves I'm human and flawed like everyone else. I love how it reminds me to take care of myself and that beauty is not the most important thing in the world, and that at best it's temporary.

I love my eyes and how they convey my laughter and my thoughts, how they show when I'm haunted and how they show when I'm happy. I love how they change color with the light and with what I'm wearing, and with my moods. I love how they sparkle and shine and show the age and wisdom of my soul, and the love in my heart.

I love my nose because it's slightly bigger than it should be for my face. I love the little bump at the end of it, and I love how it sticks out even in my shadow. I love how it makes me not a typical beauty, and how it helps people connect me to my family.

I love my lips because they're soft and rarely chapped. I love how they're full almost all the time, and even when they appear thinner than normal, they still fit my face. I love how they turn red lipsticks pink because it gave me experience with makeup and skin pH levels, and how I have to use colors with purples to make them red as sin.

I love my voice and how it ranges from high to husky, and how I have so many different tones and inflections. I love how it changes and how it can cause so many different reactions, and imitate so many different accents and make so many people laugh.

I love my neck. I love how thin it is, how slender and shapely and how I have that one mole right near my throat. I love how it's the perfect length for dangling earrings, and how I can cock my head to the side and give that look to people that makes them fall in love.

I love my clavicles and my shoulder bones. I love how one side shows where my collarbone was broken and how the other side doesn't have that bump. I love the unevenness because it's unconventional but it's so me.

I love my chest and my breast and my ribs. I love my torso and how it fits in a corset perfectly. I love my breasts because while they give me a figure, they're not all I have going for me and I know and respect that I have a brain as well. I love how my ribs don't stick out as much as they used to but they still do make an appearance, because it reminds me that I used to be so unhealthy and I'm better now. It reminds me that I'm muscle and bone and blood and tissue and that I'm not invincible but I'm not invisible either.

I love my waist because it's tiny and because I can wear skirts and dresses that flare over my hips. I love how I can wear belts around and under it and not feel like I'm trying to hard. I love how I still have my stomach and how it still swells and flattens with the months coming and going because it reminds me that I am a woman, and women are strong but so few remember that. It's within a woman that life is created and it is because of a woman that life is nurtured and born, and men cannot do that, and my waist reminds me.

I love how my bellybutton is an innie and an outie at the same time, and I love how my hipbones will still stick out no matter how bloated or skinny I am, no matter how much my body curves out. I love how my hips create a place for my to put my hands when I yell and argue, and are a place to rest my arms when I'm carrying something heavy because while I am not a mother, I have a mother's hips, and I consider it practice for the day I have a child of my own balanced there instead of a basket of laundry and detergent.

I love my butt. I love how it has cellulite and how it has stretch marks, because it proves my growth in tattoos of white and pink and yellow-tan, and these are marks I will never outgrow or change my mind about, because they're natural proof that I am no longer small and weak, but instead a woman strong.

I love my legs. I love their length and their slenderness. I love how they create such lines and I love how they're slightly hob-kneed and knock-kneed. I love how they have scars and scratches and how they're paler than the rest of my skin, because they show my natural color and they show how long I have walked to get where I am today. I love my ankles, because they are large and they are delicate at the same time, a perfect representation of my personality and mentality in my physicality.

I love my feet. They're large, and it's hard to find shoes that fit but that just means that when I do, they fit perfectly and it's like Christmas has come early, and that I'll love them even more than a pair of shoes that's more accessible. I remember the stories that go along with those shoes, and the days and the people and the cost and how much I love them when they finally do go, because they mean more to me because of how much I wear them and how long I looked for them. I love my arches and how they're the perfect lift for heels, and how beautiful they look when my feet are pointed. I love my toes, even though they're long, because they are long and they balance my feet perfectly, and balance me perfectly when I spin while dancing.

I love my arms because they're thin but they're strong, and the muscles build and grow each day I live. I love them because they tan and burn and show my life in colors not anywhere else on my body. I love how they form such flowing lines and how they move while I dance, and I love how thin my wrists are because it makes my hands look that much more real.

I love my hands because they're rough and real. I love how the nails are short and bitten, I love how they pop and crack with each clench. I love how they feel paint and cloth and brick and metal and paper and pencil and pen and just know how to make it something special and different than how it came to me. I love how the nails never remain painted or long, and I love how they frame the faces of my cats and the arms of my friends and the backs of my family, and how they may be burned and stained and ugly to some, but they're beautiful to me..

I love myself, and I'm damned proud of it.