Some people wish they were younger--that they could relive their lives differently. I do not. Don't be mistaken, I have not lived unblemished by ill-advised words, and actions. Yet, to relive my youth differently would be to negate the lessons I've learned--the insights I've been given.
I would return to people, to places, and to events. Not to change them. To celebrate them. To honor them. But, not to change them. To friends, to family, you know who you are. Words escape me. We know what we have lived--before us is our future.
To unlikely people my mind is drawn. To Katie, you taught me the meaning of grace--of disgrace, her antonym, as well. You gave me poetry--"Brazen Honesty"http://patty-pattysponderings.blogspot.com/2011/03/brazen-honesty.html--a gift I shall treasure forever. An unlikely gift, I dare say. A gift nonetheless. To Janet, never before had I met, and never again will I know, a piece of work such as you are. Into my core, "there goes another gimp," you did gore. Yet, your words broadened my vocabulary--sharpened my ear.
My alter egos. Pre-school giraffe. A ballerina. Patrushka. Patty Tricia. Pat. Ms. P.T. Thorsen. Zoomer. Aunt Patty. Roboaunt.
To places. Michael Dowling School for Crippled Children. Bassetts Creek. 2625 Vale Crest Road. Washington, D.C. Oslo. The College of St. Catherine. Grand Marais. West Publishing. Developmental Disabilities Council.
To events. Teasing. Junior high school choir class. My first class at St. Catherine's. Baptism. Graduation. Master's degree graduation. Master's degree graduation celebration.
Do I wish I was younger? Do I wish my youth I could reclaim? No. I treasure the joys. I honor the sorrows. Neither joy, nor sorrow could enrich me now, if I was younger.
Once I was asked, "If you had not been born left handed, do you think you would have been right handed?" I was tempted to say, "If you had not been born a woman, would you have been born a man?"
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