I used to be 10

Before I was forty, I used to be ten

and played outside in the sun and the wind

sometimes up in a tree with my little brother

or by myself (if I wasn't in the kitchen with my mother).

Asking lots of questions for me was a given

at church and school with anyone who would listen.

I didn't settle for the simple and the pat

my mind was too curious to be satisfied with that.

When I was ten, I began to see a new norm

girls were starting to dress to conform.

So I begged for a closet of duplicate wear

and even went out and cut my hair.

At ten I saw my first movie rated "r"

on the way home it was pretty quiet in the car.

My eyes saw scenes that were strangely new

and complex aspects of life came into view.

Some friends at school cheated on a spelling test

and I convinced them that telling the truth would be best.

In the library I faithfully checked out Nancy Drew

my best friend read right along with me too.

Grandmother time was on the weekend

she loved me like one of her own dear friends.

We listened to trains and told stories in the dark

then got up for church down the street at Oak Park.

Being ten was truly a golden age

before life got to the next complicated stage.

And forty has gifts of it's own kind,

memories from ten, which have not lost their shine.

A girl's confidence in her own voice is usually at an all-time high just before puberty. This is the time of life when girls are most apt to be in touch with their personal truth...Given our culture, a girl's inner voice isn't apt to reach this level of clarity or self-assurance again until she goes through menopause. p. 314-315 Christiane Northrup's Mother-Daughter Wisdom

Ten to eleven year old girls are very clear about what they like and don't like. They'll tell you what's on their minds. This is when children often find and commit to art, poetry, sports, dance, or other creative outlets that hold the key to their future vocation. p. 441 Christiane Northrup's Mother-Daughter Wisdom