My First ‘Wolf Whistle’

Daily writing prompt

If you could go back and witness any historical event, which one would you pick?

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Okay, so going back historically to receiving my first wolf whistle sounds pretty self-centered, even for me. I mean, after all, who wouldn’t want to witness the signing of the Declaration of Independence, or birth of a nation, or the birth of Christ, or the “In The Beginning…”?

But I’d probably want to change something or I’d do something clumsy, therefore effectively changing history. This morning as I viewed others’ responses, I thought about how I would have messed up the Declaration signing by accidentally knocking over the ink bottle onto that historical parchment. I am grinning now as I imagine the look of horror on the faces of our Founding Fathers. I could come up with numerous ways I’d probably mess history up, so I’m going to stick with simply being grateful for those who so vividly described those moments in history so that I could see them in my mind’s eye, and go back to what I’d want to witness.

I was about sixteen-ish and I was doing what I loved to do on a hot summer’s day. I had gone down to the edge of our property which bordered a bend in one of the rivers that flowed through rural Oregon. I, someone who had done her best to be one of the invisible people in school (and life), could be myself; a loner teenage girl with a body I didn’t have to hide beneath the many layers of clothing. I had opted for a simple two-piece bathing suit, which fit, because for the first time ever, my efforts had been successful. I was cooling off in the river and had just stepped out to dry off when a pick-up truck rambled across the wooden bridge just up the river. That’s when I heard it. “The Whistle”.

Most girls, those who had constantly endured that sexist harrassment would have been offended, but for the first time I felt ‘seen’.I gained a confidence that day that I cannot explain, but I wanted to thank that unknown ‘shotgun’ rider for what he gave my confidence back then. People say things like that should not matter, but when a person suffers with self-image, something like that can bring them back from the brink. That’s what it did for me.

So two take aways for me this morning. I am reliving that specific moment in my history, and am reminding myself to cherish the little moments – the hugs, the phone calls, and the memory of a wolf whistle.