Fellow blogger and one of my favorite women in this wide world, the lovely Lady J Colozzi, recently wrote of reclaiming her inner child in so beautiful a fashion (see: http://borderhopping.blogspot.com/) that I felt inspired to do the same.

My life is littered with photographs of myself and my family in our happiest times, the years before dislocation, divorce, and financial strife. For a long time I have shied away from looking at these images. Yet, for some reason, at this moment in my life, I find myself ready to weed away the overgrown and overprotective shell that I have made for myself. Oftentimes, I can almost see myself from outside of my own skin, a contained woman, pulled together and tied up neatly in a little bow. As I face my past, I find myself loosening up and reconnecting with that little girl who is my inner child.
And boy have I missed her.

For years, I have kept her bottled away without even knowing it. Where is she I would wonder? Where is that sparkly little gal who dances across the scenes of my childhood photos? She is on her way, fighting her way up from beneath years of maturity and containment, joyously hacking away the barriers that time and tumult have created.
Blonde and curly, messy, dancing constantly, jumping with arms outstretched, always hoping to fly, and oftentimes reduced to fits of giggles for no apparent reason.

Evidence of her arrival may be found in a pair of pink sneakers that I wear practically everywhere I go. Shoes have always been an avenue through which I express myself, and this pair is no exception. It feels to me, that with these pale pink and playful little lace ups, my inner Allie is shining through with a twinkling little wink and a promise to appear more and more in the future…I am so glad she is back.