(^412) A Wiccan Bible
Where I am From
By Sharon Kay Carpenter
“I am from the defiant, free wheeling four-year-old riding her tricycle across a
forbidden street, much to the dismay of Grandma Belle, and from the regretful,
tear stained child with a stinging bottom.
I am from the boyish girl with a passion for climbing trees ever higher, to shout
at the world, leaving my carved mark for anyone as brave as I to see, and from
the safety of the earth where I returned.
I am from the mother cat and her three kittens hidden from the landlord in a
closet, with my co-conspirator, Mom, helping block the view of our little guests,
and ever increasing my love for her.
I am from Garfield Elementary School, ever drawing me back because I never
wanted to leave, from McKinley Junior High School where children quickly
learned social and class differences from the cruel remarks of older students
and adults, and from Portsmouth High School where I couldn’t stay because
financial necessity beckoned and Mom was no longer able to provide for the
many needs in our lives.
I am from the 60s, from the era of the Beatles, from bell-bottoms, from drive in
theaters, and from the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis.
I am from the country that heaped shame on soldiers returning from Viet Nam,
from the spiritual country that prayed for every soldier through each war, and
from the country that shed tears for a multitude not returning.
I am from the starry-eyed bride who married the love of her life, from a young
mother of three, from the changed roles of my mother and me as I protected a
child like adult from the suddenly overwhelming issues of aging, and from my
new title, Grandma.
I am from memories of my past tricycle ride as my four-year-old grandson rides
away on his new bike, from my continued love of animals, from my aches and
pains of increasing age, and from climbing that tall tree as my granddaughter
reaches up to me with her tiny hands.”
So who is Sharon Kay Carpenter? She is a 56-year-old widowed grandmother who
has worked all of her life. She raised her children to be ‘Good Christians’ and you know
what? She succeeded, despite the fact that two of her children are Pagan (we might
work on the third). She is a survivor of not only the death of a man she loved dearly, but
of that which took my own father’s life, cancer. And after all that, she went back to
college, where she wrote the essay presented here. One of her daughters, Aimee, tells
me that their home was once filled with every order of animal, the wild ones spending
just enough time to recover from injury or illness.
zz WB Final Word.p65 412 7/11/2003, 6:05 PM
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