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The Head Will Follow

My childhood home in Philadelphia shared the property line with one of the city’s trolley and bus terminuses. The old mustard yellow and green iron wheeled Route 23 trolley’s last stop was a child’s skip and a jump to our first step. Our miniscule side yard was a few feet from the trolley tracks separated by a sturdy black wrought iron fence. The protective iron vertical bars were less than six inches apart. A tangle of lilac and forsythia bushes completed this urban oasis.

I learned that a quick escape from this dead end peninsula could be accomplished by squeezing through the iron bars. The key to this feat was to put my head through first. If my head could go through sideways the rest of my body would follow. First time pursuers were baffled. They thought they had trapped me in the side yard only to find out I had mysteriously escaped.

As I ruminated on this long ago pleasant childhood memory I thought isn’t this like life. If I can get my head through a problem or a challenge the rest of my body follows. It’s not been negative people who have blocked my progress or development of ideas. It has been my thoughts that have trapped me. That voice in my head that’s told me what I could or could not do. When I’ve been able to get my head under control everything in me lines up and says let’s get this done. I’ve got to go because my head is telling me to get moving. There are some challenges I need to get through.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 21, 2014 at 3:29 PM

    Amazing! Such a thoughtful nd even poetic depiction! I'm there! Thank you this is just what I needed to get me through the remainder off this semester

    ReplyDelete

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