Grow Up

Written for https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2024/01/18/reenas-xploration-challenge-314/

Sheila saw the reflection of the stranger and it wasn’t her. Life, which passed by in a blur of bringing up children and working. She took great satisfaction in being a Mum, and a Grandmother.

Growing up in the eighties, it was unlike anything else. There were some lessons girls couldn’t do because of non existent reasons. Physics and Woodwork were two of them.

They were her biggest achievement.

‘Grannie, when you were a little girl, what did you want to be.’

‘An actress, but mostly an author,’ she said.

‘What’s that?’

‘A writer, and I did of sorts. I wrote a novel, and my poems were published.’

Lily smiled, shifting into the space between the mirror, her mousy, long hair in a ponytail. ‘Amazing. Can I read it?’ She grinned, her blue eyes sparkled like the sun settling on the ocean.

‘Not really, it’s more for adults. Maybe when you are older.’

‘But I am good at reading.’

‘You are and I am so happy. Enough of me. What do you dream of being when you grow up?’

Stood on her tiptoes, she stared at her image, dressed in a policeman’s uniform, and tapped her finger to her chin. ‘When I am five, I want to be a vet, and look after all the animals. I would love to be a pilot, like Everest. ’

‘That is so cool, you will be brilliant.’

In retrospect, aspirations could happen at any age. She was a novelist, and had a right to be proud. Not only of the strong female characters in her family, but of herself too. From her mum, who was a force to be reckoned with, and her big sister, she learned valuable lessons.

Her reflection could be anything she wanted it to be.