From Around A Tall Hedge

One of the first dreams I can remember was about the big bad Wolf.

I can look back on it now and wonder why it did not scare me.... He was a classic ..... Walking around back from a very tall and long hedge.... standing there ... tall; looking at me ....

I was Four or Five years old .... and I remember very clearly waking up, going downstairs, and eating breakfast. Thinking about the big bad Wolf as I ate a bowl of cereal. Knowing that it was just a dream and I was totally safe in my parents kitchen, flooded with sunshine from the large glass sliding door. My mother totally oblivious as she moved about the kitchen, and smoking her morning cigarette.... my brother sitting at my side.

Since then I have always been fascinated with the theme of little Red Riding Hood... The older I get the more important that dream becomes... Who was the Wolf? I was ignorant of its meaning as a child eating that bowl of cereal.


I have always felt protected...and have always easily ;without effort ...skated along.... urged forward by unseen angels? Maybe even protected by that very wolf....

One thing that I have always fought ... my own personal tidal wave ... Inactivity. I loved my warm unfocused lazy bubble.

In High School I lost 85 pounds... In my 20's I joined a gym, I never became mussel bound, but did stick with, and enjoy it...working with 3 personal trainers over those years.... I slowed down in my 30's ... a creeping back problem. In my 40th year I made a big push... to finally conquer that personal tidal wave of inactivity.

I challenged every self doubt and fear I could think of.... What a few years.... I started volunteering my butt off... a homeless organization... a school for deaf children... tutoring early readers at a local elementary school.... I joined a softball team ( this coming from an overweight teenager who dreaded field day )... I started marathon training... and took knitting and glass blowing classes... and I survived... a solid 2 year process....I burnt out... but survived. I proved to myself that I can .... Live with, and not fear my own Big Bad Wolf of self denounced inactivity.