The Street Where You Live

People stop and stare, they don't bother me. There is nowhere in the world that I would rather be..." So I am walking up the street and around the corner I hear a voice, "Mr. W..." and I turn and see the friend of my daughter, along with her father and their dogs. I walk with them and they invite me inside, where I see the sister and the grandmother and the mother. It is so nice. It feels like home, a place where I am welcome, like family. I ask about the contest one girl went to last weekend; I ask about the graduation story her sister told before the school at her graduation. And then I learn of a social snubbing, and then about a grandmother who always told her children that they could do anything they set their hearts upon. And about another grandmother who said "no." Like my mother. Over and again. You are not good enough, you are nothing compared to your Dad." And see, both mothers had and impact. Now, as an adult, one says, get over it. But the damage was done; it is so much easier said than done. Yes I can, yes I can, yes I can. It is the little engine that could. In my house, I guess, I was the little engine that couldn't. So get over that. Question: can one get over thse paradigms, these blocks, all by oneself? Can one heal? Can one ever get past "go"? All seems possible on the street where you live.