#WQWWC – #Writer ’s Quote Wednesday #Writing Challenge – “Rebirth”

by

Desert June 6 2015104-060715

Write-birth

I took a test.  Seems like a simple concept, but this test was part of a college course for people majoring in Vocational Rehabilitation.  It was meant to help us learn how to find the best fit for a job, not to have a fit over the results.  

Sitting among the students in my heels, form-fitting knit shirt, and tight jeans, I wanted desperately to be a model or one of those TV CEO’s all of her underlings are salivating over.  

To my dismay, the best career choice for me turned out to be…

WRITER 

“Who the hell created this %$mn*% test?”  I asked rather loudly.

Too short to become a model, the realities of life as a college graduate with a worthless degree became a series of 40-hour-a-week receptionist jobs. Turns out, it’s hard to find eye-candy that’s good at paperwork.

I remember the day my perceptions began to change. I walked toward a door, startled that my mother was walking toward me.  Problem is…my mother had been dead for 10 years.  

Eyes may be the window to the soul, but a mirror is the window to our perceptions.  

I’d like to say that was the day of my rebirth but, sadly, it was just the beginning of a journey more reminiscent of labor pains.  Some births are easy, others are hard, but this baby refused to come out.  

Blessed with a body that looked 10 years younger, and hair that refused to add in a few strands of gray until I was 50, I managed to turn a few heads.  Then…their eyes began to gravitate from my still lithe body onto vibrant young women who still had a butt.  

In a span of a few years, I abandoned the tight dresses for loose t-shirts, jeans, and comfortable shoes.  My choice of companionship turned away from men who couldn’t see past the wrinkles toward my 4-footed companions, who always met me at the door with a smile.  

The completion of this journey began the day I walked along a path with my dogs running ahead.  They stopped to sniff at the bushes, and then marked the path with their scent along the way.  They jumped at the butterflies, reveled in the sunshine, and rolled in soft cushions of grass.  

As I watched my companions joyfully sticking their heads out of the half-opened car windows to take in the gift of life, I finally understood.  It’s the joy, hope, love…the dreams inside us…that are important, not the image mirrored back at us in other people’s eyes.

I began a new journey, my dogs by my side, writing down the whispers of thought that easily flowed through eager fingers.

And a book was born.

© Joelle LeGendre 2016

Category : LIfe, Words, Writing
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