I like to say that there is nowhere I feel as free to be me as at our Women’s Gathering.
Part of what inspires this is my memory of the last summer before my boobs came in: I was going topless at any possible opportunity. I mourned the huge loss of freedom coming my way, knowing as a pre-teen it was going to be the last time ever in my life I would be able to walk around without a shirt on. I was so mad. And sad. And determined to do it all the time while I still could.
The Twin Oaks Women’s Gathering has given that going topless freedom back to me. Again, I find myself walking around shirtless as much as I can, but this time it’s with joy and not with sadness. My favorite part is when I start feeling cold at day’s end and suddenly remember “O, right, I’m not wearing a top”
For me the true freedom does not lie in being able to go topless, even though that is very powerfully important to me. The deeper truer freedom lies in being able to forget about it.
