Photo on ColumbiaMagazine.com

2025-06-15 - Columbia, KY - Photo by Linda Waggener, ColumbiaMagazine.com.

My name is Linda Reid Marcum Waggener, but, if I'd been Native American, it could have been Little Big Woman.

I was busily putting words on paper, when Little Big Woman popped so vividly into my imagination that I was moved to draw her -- a robust woman with arms stretched to the sun in celebration of a new day.

Though I'm not a trained artist, I'm learning that part of being true to myself is trusting my instincts, believing that I am good enough.

So I started sketching, wondering what IF I'd grown up as Little Big Woman?

The elders naming me would have known that the family gene pool would dictate that I'd be short, and round, and THAT early acceptance would have saved me years of resisting my physical reality.

You see, in my youth, I somehow got the mistaken impression that I should grow tall and look like Barbie.

The struggle to become what I could not, kept me feeling "not quite good enough" for a half century -- what a colossal waste of energy!

Little Big Woman's elders would have known that this short, round, girl-child would be big in spirit, passionate, thankful, filled with creativity and bright dreams.

They'd have lived the message that size and shape do not have to create one's destiny; rather, short, round women are just as lovable, and just as talented as tall, willowy women.

Little Big Woman would NOT have been encouraged into painful high heels - nor the harsh perming of her straight, brown hair.

Little Big Woman would NOT have internalized a feeling of being "not good enough".

She'd have grown up in the secure knowledge that our value comes in being true to one's own self, instead of just discovering it at midlife - hoping to reconnect in some small way with the little girl who got sidetracked from her dreams and joys in writing and drawing.

Do these feelings really matter?

Writings like this poem by Longfellow suggest 'yes':

Then read from the treasured volume, The poem of thy choice.
And lend to the rhyme of the poet, The beauty of thy voice.
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

Writings like Longfellow's add to my belief that not only does it matter, it is vital that we develop, encourage and share the gifts we're born with - no matter what size or shape we are - no matter the gender, no matter what skin color, no matter our personal beliefs - I AM good enough... YOU are good enough... we are ALL good enough - just exactly as we are.
(Written in 1999 as a very non-traditional, middle aged college student in Dr. Catherine Mounce's class, tweaked and read at Adair County Arts Council's Writer's Day 2025).