the next step is getting over how weird my knees are

Ever since I started getting chubby, which was around grade three or four, I have extremely disliked showing any part of my body. Legs encased in pants, arms in long sleeves, torso in a jacket, and the best is when face/neck is obscured by a scarf. (Hence one of the reasons I love fall and winter. Summer is not conducive to all those clothes.) This was compounded when in grade seven I got little red spots all over my legs. My doctor said "Shave with the hair, instead of against it," which is dumb because a) then what's the point of shaving at all, and b) the spots persisted even in the winter, when I didn't shave for five or six months at a time. So I remained spotted. Chubby, too, but that was for a different reason. This conversation from School of Rock accurately sums it up:

Anyway. For lots and lots of years, I persisted with jeans through even the hottest summers. The ONLY time I would wear shorts was when I knew I was going to be at home all day and nobody was coming over. That was it.

Then, mysteriously between term 3 and term 4 of this year, I decided that I loved skirts and dresses. Skirts and dresses were my new favourite things. I discovered I could entertain myself during students' boring stories by standing with my feet together and twisting my hips, making my skirts and dresses swish around my legs. Walking down stairs became exponentially more fun, because my skirts and dresses would flip out every time I descended a step. It was fantastic. I didn't wear pants at all for the rest of the school year, except sometimes on jeans Fridays.

I still have spots on my legs, but I've begun to notice that you can't really tell unless you are staring at my legs from a really close distance, and that's not really something people do to me a lot. I haven't lost any weight, because food still tastes really good, but yesterday I bought a pair of black shorts because I have lots of tops that would look really good with black shorts.

So what I'm saying is that I wish this confidence had come to me sooner. I love my skirts and I love my dresses and I might even be on the way to loving my shorts. I'm still a modest girl, and I am aware of what is not flattering on my body, but if you don't like my spots or are grossed out by my weight, then look elsewhere because I feel pretty great. That is what I'm saying.