5 minute fantasy

A couple of Sundays ago, I participated in a writing workshop with my breast cancer survivor/former co-worker support/writing group. It was a fantastic, inspiring energizing experience.

I wanted to share one of my more light-hearted pieces from that day.

The exercise: Choose an object that is important to you (I brought in a necklace, designed by my friend Jacqueline (who also designs clothing for women who have had mastectomies). The necklace has a pendant that says “Rebel” (it’s a beer cap) and eight beads. Four are red and one is white, representing the one woman in eight who will get breast cancer.

We were asked to write a description, a memory, a fantasy and a monologue in the object’s voice. Each exercise lasted five minutes.

This is my fantasy:

I am not a rebel by nature. Perhaps it’s my birth order but I have always been a good girl, even through my teenage rebellion and even when breaking the law.

But in my fantasies I am superhero in a beer cap necklace. A one-breasted warrior, wearing big boots and a really cool scarf (you can’t be a superhero without the right accessories. That’s where the confidence comes from when it lacks more internal origins).

I am a superhero who can command a room with my presence and make CEOs tremble with a furious glance from my piercing blue eyes.

I know how to right wrongs and rid the world of injustice and I pull it off – with time left over to finish the queen-sized blanket that’s been languishing in its basket for more than a year.