A very wise woman once told me to imagine that I was seven years old.

But the old nurse was a wise woman, and knew what to do.

It was, even at its beginning, a happy private joke between two wise women.

"What a wise old woman I've turned out to be, to trust you to see that."

The wise woman filled a bowl with water and looked into it.

So together they became the wise women of our people.

The wise women began to offer more than just comfort of body.

And, like a woman wise beyond her years, she had accepted it as a beautiful thing.

Instead, I listened to the wise women before me, like my mom.

Then again, a wise woman wouldn't be likely to go back to such a crazy place, did she have a choice.