Two Smashed Leg Bones and the View from My Bed

Today’s prompt is “Breathe…Just watch me.”

It feels like a command, a dare. I was that girl—the one who hung upside down in a dress on the school monkey bars during recess (a great way to “breathe” and relax). I’d race faster than the boys, who’d yank the sash on my dress, trying to catch me. Severe punishment awaited if I showed up after school with a ripped sash; being “unlady-like” was strictly forbidden.

Apple tree climbing was my favorite unlady-like pursuit—a place to hide, breathe with nature, and be myself. Climbing a tree meant punishment, but I did it anyway.

What did those messages pass on to me, and my brother? The message that a girl could only behave a certain way in order to be accepted. Except that being accepted was a rarity because smart articulate girls were to be silenced..."Seen and not heard", as my mother would say.

Farming life lends itself to that little girl in all of us...the one that climbs trees or likes to get dirty (that's still some of the best things about farm life). As I recover from my injuries I'm determined to listen to her more. She's full of fun and loads of mental health ideas.

Finding that young girl these days is tough—no recent tree-climbing or hanging upside down. But that “just watch me” can-do spirit still burns within me. My life embodies that daring defiance.