I have two sisters, and one thing that was ingrained in us very early on by both mom and dad was that there was strength in numbers and that, as young ladies, we should not go anywhere alone.
We weren't to open the door to strangers, walk to and from school alone, go to the mall alone, and once we were of age, we weren't allowed to go on dates unless there was either a chaperone or another couple -- and even then, there were limits. Family trips to the beach came with the rule that we weren't to go walking on the strand or lying out in the sun by ourselves.
And because this was in the days before cellphones were a thing, we were instructed to always keep enough change with us to use a payphone in case of an emergency.
The lessons learned from my blessedly overprotective parents have, as has been the case with most others in life, stuck with my sisters and me throughout our respective life journeys and have, fortunately, resulted in us not falling prey to anyone with bad (violent) intentions.
It is those lessons that I've thought about quite a bit over the last three weeks or so, as I've worked to recover from an odd neck/shoulder injury that happened sometime after Christmas, but which really set in shortly after New Year's Day had come and gone.
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Though men and women alike experience vulnerability, whether it be physical, emotional, spiritual, or what have you, obviously, I understand the female perspective more, with recent events, including my injury, inspiring me to gather my thoughts and write about them.
While I'm far from a spring chicken, my reflexes are still pretty good. I can walk pretty fast, I can still see and hear well (mom jokes that I have a hound dog's sense of hearing), and I can formulate a plan of action quickly and adjust accordingly if I'm in a situation that begins to make me uncomfortable.
But what I can't currently do while I'm in the process of healing is turn my neck in a timely manner to either side to be able to properly assess my surroundings when I'm out and about. This has, for the short term at least, caused me to only make trips out when it's absolutely necessary rather than what I call "pleasure trips" - the retail therapy afternoons, visits to the park, walks in the neighborhood, etc, and that sort of thing.
That really frustrates me because it's made me think about the vulnerability that comes with being a woman all over again, something that women always carry around with them but which they don't allow to control their every move unless they are in a situation where they feel like they have no choice.
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On two different occasions in late 2025, I found myself in situations where I could have gotten hurt if I had not been able to turn my head from side to side promptly to see what was going on around me. One involved someone with a backpack and shaggy appearance, probably a homeless person, walking up to my car while I was in a parking lot after shopping, and waving his hands, trying to get my attention.
Fortunately, I was in the car (which I had backed in to the parking spot), and the doors were locked, and I saw him coming about 30 seconds before he made it to the driver's side of the car. I had been in the middle of sorting packages that were in the passenger seat, but once I spotted him, I got my hands free of the bags, put my car in drive, and pulled out.
The other one also happened in a parking lot, but in that case, I was not in the car, having come out of a store with my hands full. I had seen this particular person in that shopping center before, approaching other people, and had been able to avoid him, but on that day, he came dangerously close. I was extremely thankful that I was able to move pretty fast, and was close to the car, which I was able to get into and lock the doors quickly as the man navigated his bike (and his dog) to where I was.
Because situations like that are, unfortunately, a fact of life for all of us, I'm limiting where I go until I feel like I'm at 100 percent. Not just for my own good, but because I have someone at home (mom) who needs me.
Some people don't like to acknowledge vulnerability because they either naively believe they are invincible and/or don't want to admit they have weaknesses. But in reality, acknowledging whatever type of vulnerability(ies) you have is a sign of strength, in my opinion, because it forces us to admit that we're human, that we weren't put on this earth to do All the Things™, and that a higher power ultimately controls our destiny.
