To be born in a duck’s nest, in a farmyard,
is of no consequence to a bird, if it is
hatched from a swan’s egg.
~ Hans Christian Andersen
For health reasons, my mother was not supposed to risk a pregnancy. She did, however, and when her labor started it continued for days. She was considered too great a risk for a cesarean section. So the doctor reached up into the uterus with forceps, and pulled me out. My mother said, “I wasn’t handed a baby, I was handed a purple melon.”
My mother went on to say that they took the melon home, where my father wrapped my head in a kerchief so no one would see me. Then they put me in a covered carriage at the back of the house so they wouldn’t upset the neighbors. I was an ugly duckling but still loved and accepted into the nest.
I also had what the ugly duckling didn’t have, a grandmother. She took me, and according to my mother, poured oil over my head and face every few hours and pushed everything back where it belonged. The loving hands changed me from an ugly duckling into a swan.
Over fifty years later my shaved head was massaged with oil for the first time by a female massage therapist. Her hands took me back to my infancy. I went into a trance that frightened everyone in attendance. “You were gone. We didn’t know what happened to you.” I did. I went back to being a baby swan.
Loving hearts and hands can turn even ugly ducklings into swans.
Peace,
~ Bernie
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