Flower Child

I put that old French record on.

Back then I was just a girl.

Innocent and curious about sexuality.

Everything I learned about sex came from Brigitte Bardot and Nancy Sinatra.

Back then I was empowered by my fellow female road warriors.

The Shangri-Las kept me grounded in my relationships, but also helped me move on to bigger and better things.

My expectations rose the day my innocence was stolen in the back of a beat up van near a bonfire my girlfriends had thrown.

Virginity is a funny thing.

Most girls plan, worry and obsess over it, until it's gone.

I always felt indifferent.

It was just like most of the senior girls in the bathroom at school had described it.

The silver lining was that all of the power now belonged to me.

I was no longer the girl doing her make up like Nancy and Brigitte.

I had evolved into a sexual being with a curious agenda.

And the men who preyed on my fellow sisters would pay the price.