Don't close the lid

Of all the people, in all the world, that I have had the opportunity to get to know, few have surprised me as much as myself.

You'd think that someone you'd known your whole life would be the most familiar person around, but that just isn't so.

From the day I was born my head and heart have been dipped and coated, breaded and banded, impregnated and branded with the people and times and mores of my era. And I, a first born girl child of small town conservative parents was born to please.

I doubt if there is a chameleon around who can change faster than me. I can go from bumper bunny to acolyte in double time and stop at the library in between.

Sometimes I've felt like one of those ballerinas in children's jewelry boxes who pivots madly whenever the lid rises and the music plays, but who just lies there in the dark the rest of the time.

Now, when at least two thirds of my life is over, I feel like I'm just getting to know myself, but better late than never.