Netflix just recently released "Dumplin'" and I have fallen in love with it. As a pageant girl, raised by a pure Texan, I can relate to the main character Willowdean Dixon on so many levels it was crazy. Here are some of the top things that I found either very relatable in my own world or just plain perfect.
1. DOLLY PARTON.
GiphySimple as that. She made this movie so much more than I thought it could be. I feel like our generation just doesn't understand the feel of a good country feel good song anymore. She has some of the BEST music your ears could ever hear, and as MANY of you don't know...she wrote AND sang "I will always love you." Shocking, I know. The lyrics in a country song can take you through a persons entire life in 3 minutes. That is why it fit so well in this movie; it allowed you to go through the emotions with the characters.
2. Every body is a swimsuit body.
GiphyI've said it before and I'll say it again for the people in the back, EVERY BODY IS A SWIMSUIT BODY. I don't care if you're a size 2 or 22; there is a reason they come in all sizes...WEAR IT. I have been looked down on for wearing swimsuits in pageants, hey; I've even had "sisters" call me fat to my face without any remorse on their part. It's disgusting to me how cruel woman can be to each other. Don't get me wrong, I am not always the nicest, but I am not afraid to call someone out on living a lie. Don't preach to us about what having a size 6 body is like, we are so much more than that and watch us prove it to you.
3. Jennifer Aniston is goals.
GiphyI can only hope to one day look that good when I'm that age. I have seen her in so many movies and she literally hasn't aged a year since Friends. I am beyond jealous and I need to know her beauty routine as soon as possible.
Her character is very interesting to me. I have seen it many times in the pageant world, mothers who were state title holders and their daughters want nothing to do with that life and they're so heart broken about it, but I live the opposite life of that. I am the one who wants to be Miss North Dakota and my mother never had the dream of becoming Miss Texas. Life is a funny things sometimes.
4. The Feels.
GiphyThis movie hit me right in the gut from the first minute it played until the end credits. I have had my ups and downs in pageantry and I know the feeling of not feeling as if you're good enough or thin enough to hold the title. I'll be the first to tell you that if ANYONE makes you feel that you're less than...kick them so far out of your life you won't even remember them being in it. People like that make me sick to my stomach and I can't imagine them competing for the same job that involves being a role model, a class act above the rest or the light in someone else's life.
I haven't had a movie bring me to tears like this one did before. They weren't tears of sadness or joy; but tears of hope. With this movie out in the world, I hope people look at girls who compete as role models. We are doing this for more than a crown and sash. I complete to show that I can dream as big as the Rockies and that my students should do the same, no matter how old or how young they are. A dream is never meant to die, only meant to grow along with us.
