This Woman
I recently had a dream that I was standing on a platform above a crowd. As I descended the steps, it was as though the camera switched. I looked at myself from the perspective of the crowd of observers before me. I was fully nude. I looked just as I do in real life. Overweight, older, scarred. The only difference in my appearance was that my hair was shoulder length and a little fuller than it is now. That was the only feature the dream altered. There was no feeling of being a wanton, or of doing something risqué or of being an exhibitionist. There was no self-consciousness. I was completely unconcerned that my breasts sag, my belly protrudes, or my thighs slap. I went down the rather long flight of steps confidently without embarrassment or fear, or shame. I held my head high. I put one foot in front of the other with grace and without the need to look down. Each step was sure. I walked down those steps as t...
