Free to Be... ME

There's a land that I see where the children are free
And I say it ain't far to this land from where we are
Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free
Come with me, take my hand, and we'll live...

Julie's Hump Day Hmmmm... for today asks us to write about

"Where I'd like to go next." This can be your personal goal, professional goal, cultural or societal goal, political goal...you get the picture. Just tell us something about how you'd like the future to be.

I leaned back in my office chair to think about this; to think about where I want to go, what kind of world I'd like, what I'd like the future to be, and this song jumped into my head.

I didn't know that Free to Be was a movie until I was in college. It was highly disappointing to me, as it wasn't nearly as fun as I envisioned it in my head. When I was a kid we listened to the Free to Be... You and Me soundtrack all the time. I knew all the lyrics, and could even recite all the stories. Marlo Thomas and Carol Channing and Alan Alda convinced me that I could grow up to be whatever I wanted to be. That girls could do anything. That being nice was important. That there was a world where I would be Free to Be ME.

I dreamed of a world where boys could play with dolls and women could marry whom they chose. A world where I would be glad to have a friend like you to make forts out of sofa cushions and ice cream out of snow. A world where I didn't have to buy into stereotypes and commercialism and the false image of a merry homemaker. I could have any job I wanted. My husband would help to change the diapers. Snotty little girls would be eaten by tigers.

Although there are still certainly barriers to break past and glass ceilings to bust through, a lot of those dreams have come true for me, at least here, in this part of the world that I inhabit. Well, not the snotty girls being eaten by tigers part, but as The May Queen ALWAYS insists on being first this is probably a good thing in the long run.

But ultimately, I guess that is what I long for. The chance to really be me... fully realized. In my over enthusiastic, geeky, song in my heart, but now let's have a deep conversation, and then can we please drink some wine and dance on the couch kind of way. A time and place where I know what my gifts are and how to use them. A world where I can work on plays with other crazily committed people, worship in a church with people who are on fire, and cuddle in front of a fire with my nearest and dearest. Where all the parts of my soul are fed, and never at the expense of anyone else. Where I never feel awkward or "too much" or "not enough." I long for a future, for a NOW, where I don't worry about what others think, where I have the time and space and energy and resources so that I can be the best ME there is: full of patience and imagination, short on distrust and anger, aglow with life.

I see a land bright and clear, and the time's comin' near
When we'll live in this land, you and me, hand in hand
Take my hand, come along, lend your voice to my song
Come along, take my hand, sing a song

To a land where the river runs free
To a land through the green country
To a land to a shining sea
To a land where the horses run free
To a land where the children are free
And you and me are free to be
And you and me are free to be
And you and me are free to be... you and me