This isn't a boy in a dress. It's a child dressed in bliss.

I’ll never forget the day I was watching Jacob in his new princess nightgown, he was about 5 years old. It was a warm summer evening and he was running back and forth on the grass, unaware I was watching him.

He was singing his favorite song at the top of his lungs, the dress was a vibrant red, and the sun was setting behind him. Everything was golden, especially Jacob. As I watched him run back and fourth, I was stunned by the joy radiating from every cell of his body. I was witnessing magic right before my eyes.

He wasn't confused. He wasn't making a statement. He was just - free.

Free from labels. Free from expectations. Free from the boxes that so often tell children who they're supposed to be before they've had a chance to discover who they are for themselves.Labels put you in a box and somewhere along the way skirts, dresses, pink, blue, became a box meant to contain the essence of what kids know deeply, and instinctively - to discover who you truly are.

Jacob didn’t care that the dress was intended for a girl, he only cared about how it made him feel. Period.

That’s the power of clothing.

A dress doesn't have a gender. A color doesn't belong to one kind of person. A child doesn't need permission to be true to themselves, unless they are told otherwise.

StereoType exists because of that moment. A moment not to judge but instead a moment that truly opened my eyes.

I believe what's true for children is true for all of us - when we are free to express who we truly are, it is then we are truly free.