74. Believe the Hype

Nora reminds listeners to accept compliments from others — who are we to besmirch their good taste?

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

INTRO MUSIC 

 I’m Nora McInerny and it’s going to be okay. 

I walk my kids to school. A fact that I share with you so that you know that I am a good mom. Can’t be a bad mom if you walk your kids to school. I walk my kids to school because it is easy. I walk my kids to school because it’s convenient. I walk my kids to school because it is this special time.

In the morning where they get to complain about walking to school and I get to complain about their complaining. And sometimes, all the time we cross paths with people in our neighborhood who get to witness. They’re complaining. My complaining about their complaining. It’s a good time. All around, most days, we cross paths with some friends of ours whose children attend the same school.

Their daughter is a year older than our youngest son, and she is the kind of kid who lights up as soon as you see her and who lights you up as soon as you see her. And one thing that I love about this kid is her outfits. Whenever I see her, she has a new combination picked out. Leggings with a skirt, with a shirt. There is a pattern mix. There is a power clash. If there’s a hair accessory, she’s wearing it and not just one. She’s got the headband and she’s got the barrette.

I cannot help when I see her to smile, and when I love her outfit, I tell her exactly what I think about it. And whenever I say name redacted and when I say, I love your outfit, or I love that headband, or I love how you did your hair. She just smiles up at me and says, thank you, and that’s it. The compliment gets accepted, it gets absorbed, it gets tucked into her pocket, metaphorically while she.

Literally skips the rest of the way to school. If you have not skipped lately, you might have forgotten how physically taxing that activity is. This kid skips approximately 0.3 miles to school and back over a half mile a day. This kid is skipping joyfully around this neighborhood dressed like Punky Brewster.

Which if you are a younger list, which you, which if you are a younger listener, you will need to Google because I simply cannot explain her. I don’t know. When I myself learned to swat away compliments like King, king Kong Swatting Way helicopters, while clinging to the Empire State Building. I don’t know when I started to reply to people with a list of reasons why they were wrong.

About my clothes, my work, my lipstick, my personality, but I do it or I’ve definitely done it and it is a hard habit to break. It is harder than, it’s a harder habit to break even than twirling my hair, which is something I’ve done my entire life. But, I’ve given up on giving up on, because really twirling your hair doesn’t hurt anybody and it soothes me, and the only reason that I was going to stop in the first place is that someone once told me that twirling my hair made me look stupid, which I believed the first time I heard it and never questioned because I will believe in insult immediately, but not a compliment.

I have let kind words slide off me like Jello, which is actually a bad example because having wrestled in that substance more than once college was nuts. I can tell you Jello can and will stain your skin for a few days. It actually doesn’t slide off at all. So think about for a minute how rude that is to assume that the people who are complimenting you simply have bad taste.

It’s so rude. It’s so rude to say to somebody who likes your outfit, who likes you, who likes your thoughts, that they are wrong. They’re not wrong, they’re not mistaken. It doesn’t really matter if you think you could have done better or if the jacket was in fact something you found on the street, like my favorite members only jacket circa 2008, or if you could have done a better job, which I guess I already said.

When someone compliments you, be like that little girl. Accept it. Say thank you. Roll around in it and let it soak into you like that. Jello I was telling you about, no wrestling required. They are not wrong. They have good taste. Believe the hype, especially, especially when it’s about you.

OUTRO MUSIC

CREDITS