photo by David Jones
One of my first heroes was Peter Pan. He was a kid who could go toe to toe with grownups—pirates, even. I liked the way he unabashedly crowed whenever he was pleased with himself, which was most of the time. He bragged incorrigibly and unapologetically about the smallest achievement. The narrator doesn’t sugarcoat it:
“To put it with brutal frankness,” he says, “There never was a cockier boy.”
I envied Peter’s confidence. It thrilled me when he crowed,
“How clever I am! Oh, the cleverness of me!”
I longed for that kind of self-assurance, let along the audacity to stand on a chair and shout about it—the way Peter did at every opportunity. Continue reading What I Learned from Peter Pan: In Praise of Crowing
the saltwater twin 