Do you ever feel like Hansel and Gretel?

Not like when the witch is stuffing them into the oven.  That would be a really bad day… if you are feeling like Hansel and Gretel at that particular time in their lives.

But much earlier in their day… when they first start out together.

Actually,  the entire story is pretty pathetic, from the very beginning.  I mean… that dang old mean step-mother says they eat too much, so she decides to abandon them deep into the woods and leave them there.  AND, she brow beats the poor father into agreeing to this plan.  Yep.  Go Hansel.  Go Gretel.  Go to the deep dark forest…..to fend for yourselves….  you, you, you little piggies.

But wait… not only are they big eaters… they are smart kids too.  And, as a result, they drop white pebbles and get back home…. by retracing their steps.  And once there… “Muuuummmmmeeeee.  Weeee’rrrrrre Bacccccckkkkkk!”

Oh For Crying Out Loud.   It is back to the woods they go… this next time carrying NO pebbles.  Horrible StepMom makes sure.  But Hansel… he grabs a slice of Wonder Bread.  This time he leaves a trail of bread crumbs.  (They were out of peanut butter, or he might have just made a sandwich.) But alas.. that saving crumb trail….

And the hungry birds…..

Well… you know the rest of the story.

But back to my premise.  Do you ever feel like Hansel and Gretel?  Starting out on an unknown adventure?  Perhaps it may be a little scary, or unknown.  You just don’t know what will come around the bend.  So you try to leave a way…. to get back where you started.  Retrace your steps.  Get back to the safety zone.

Yet.  It may turn out better if we don’t fall back on what we know.  Even if we want to.  Sometimes we have to forge ahead.  We have to traipse through those big woods… and go to that old Gingerbread House, and fight the gnarly, scary, horrible witch.  Although… look what happens.  Once we show our mettle, well… we get the pot of gold, or the treasure… or the really big gumdrop.  Whatever it was… you were after.  Perhaps, even, your wildest dream.

The fact that the crappy stepmother dies when the children have killed the witch,  suggests to me that the despicable  stepmother and the witch are metaphorically the same woman.

So it is with life.  Sometimes that thing to over come… that thing we dread… is directly tied to something else.  Or maybe they are one in the same… but we have to get by that “thing” we dread.  Over the hurdle.  To move on.

And we do.

We overcome.  We win.  We succeed.  We persevere.

And then we return
Right back where we belong.
Even if “Right Back Where We Belong” isn’t where we started at all.  BUT…. …  it is … completely right.

And we know it.
THAT Hansel and Gretel feeling.

Yep, tomorrow, when I start out the day… someone please remind me…… to remember the Wonder Bread.