A delicious box of chocolates - Karen

When I awakened from my sleep, I found on the bed next to me a lovely box. It was in the shape of a sort of reliquery, tall and tapered like a cathedral. Purple satin and gold beading and tassels bedecked this lovely creation. I opened the little doors on the front and saw rows of delectable chocolates, nestled within layers of spun sugar. I selected my favorite, a succulent dark and popped it into my mouth. I was instantly transported to another time and place. I am quite small, I thought. I hear a voice, somewhat muffled, saying, "And what do YOU want to be when you growup?"

Countdown to a Grown-Up

At seven a teacher, a nurse, an actress
wild dog, space alien,a magician
At thirteen an artist, a writer, a poet
beautiful, sexy, someone who belonged
At twenty-one a nurse, a mother, a wife
artist, writer, traveler
At thirty divorced, wealthy, somewhere else
intense, passionate, sexual
At forty Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keefe, Ellen Gilchrist, Barbara
Kingsolver, Margaret Mead, Winnie Mandela, Guinevere, an organic
farmer, Sojourner Truth, Lillian Wald, Margaret Sanger, the Dalai
Lama, Laxshmi, a bellydancer, a healer
someone who sees, listens, transforms, creates
I grow toward myself.
I am large, I contain multitudes.*

(Walt Whitman)