Rosemary Ollison "ME TOO WOMEN"

I would like to introduce you to my “ME TOO” women. They are very special to me. I cannot look at one of them without becoming spiritually and emotionally stimulated.

The essence of “ME TOO” women
They represent the “ME TOO” in me
That part of me that look at others dreams being fulfilled
And wonder??? Why not "ME TOO"???

Let me tell you how the name came about:

On day I was watching preschoolers play. One little girl who was noticeably physically attractive was being told how “pretty” she was. This had been an on going thing of telling this little girl how “pretty” she was. I myself had indulged in the excitement of this little girl’s physical attractiveness. On this particular day we adults were indulging ourselves in this little girl’s physical beauty, telling her how “pretty” she was when a little girl who was slightly retarded literally step in front of the “pretty” little girl and said: “ME TOO”.

We all had a wake up call and endeavored not to engage in such hurtful behavior again. Even though we didn’t continue telling any particular child how they looked the little girl’s words never escaped my mind. So when I started drawing the images, at one point I drew this image and I said I messed up and started to throw the drawing away.

But then I saw the little girl in the image that I had created and heard her say: “ME TOO”. This image does NOT look like the little girl I am speaking of. The image just reminds me of this little girl in that I did not see her as “pretty” as the images I drew before her. After drawing about 200 of these images I do not see them as “pretty” or “ugly”, I just love them all. And I knew that I would never part with this image! People are free to COPY her image but the original is mine forever.

In so many facets of my life I have wanted to step up and loudly say ME TOO! Over the years I saw people with the things that I desperately desired. Many of these individuals said what they had was blessings from God. I tried to fulfill all of my religious duties hoping that one day I would have done enough that God would bless “ME TOO”. I knew that I had failed in doing ALL that God (my religion) required of me; therefore, I felt that God was justified in not giving me the desires of my heart. I assumed that God’s goodness towards me was measured by my goodness (righteousness). All I could possibly do was to continue trying to be righteous enough so that God would bless “ME TOO”.

About ten years before I drew my “ME TOO” women I had written a poem. I did not relate or connect the poem to the drawings of my “ME TOO” women. After drawing about 200 of the images that God had inspired me to draw He told me to call them “ME TOO” women. He told me that I already had the words to go with the women. I went and got the poem and it is as follows.

I am an old dog who is unable to bark
But my Master keeps me because he loves me

He needs no watchdog
He sees all that goes on
He doesn’t need me but I still have a home

I have lost my sense of smell
But my Master keeps me
Even though I can’t even wag my tail

My Master can read my heart
He knows when I am glad
He knows when I am sad

I can’t even see, I am just an old blind dog
but my Master is my guide

I can’t do anything for my Master
I am worthless, but precious to my Master

I have always got a home
My Master is with me
I am never alone
Because my Master simply loves his old dog

The words of this poem epitomized how I felt about myself for forty-six years. I didn’t even see myself as a “normal” dog. This is how I saw myself as a dog:

I believed that God loved me and would take care of me, but I did not expect him to give me what I really wanted because I was not able to do all that He (religion) required of me. I felt like an old dog and didn’t expect to be treated any better than I had treated or taken care of the dogs I owned over the years. I did not know God’s true character. In fact I believed that God wanted me to suffer and to live a self-sacrificing life to prove that I loved Him. I honestly did not expect God to treat me any better than I had treated my dogs who I loved very much.

1. I knew that my dogs did not like to be alone but I had to leave them alone
some times.

(I hated being alone, but who was I that God should spend time with me and
he certainly was's obligated to give me someone to be with. I did ask God to give
me a husband but after 40 I lost all hope.)

2. I gave my dogs a place to live. I sheltered them from the elements.

(God always gave me a place to live. I thanked him and never asked for more.)

3. I always gave my dogs plenty to eat.

(God has always given me more than enough food to eat.)

4. I taken care of my dog’s health needs, got their shots and taken them to
the doctor if they got sick.

(God has always given me insurance so that I can get the medical help I needed.)

5. I required complete obedience from my dogs. If they were disobedience I
punished them. And if they did not learn to obey I would get rid of them,
maybe even putting them to death.

(I felt that God exacted exclusive obedience and when I was unable to do what
I believed he required I was so afraid of being kicked away from him.)

I have committed many sins and know that I will commit more. But I know that I can be forgiven for all my sins by mean of Jesus Christ. But there is one sin that I am having a problem forgiving myself for. My most destructive sin was that of misjudging God’s (character, nature, quality, temperament, personality, disposition, spirit, moral fiber, makeup). I know that God has forgiven me because for the past twenty-four years he has been SHOWING me who He really is. The one Scripture that changed my thoughts completely about God is found at 2Chronicles 16: 9 “For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them.”

For forty years I worked to keep God from kicking me away from him. It didn’t matter if he did not give me what I wanted all that mattered to me was that he not leave me. I got what I wanted until I was fifteen years old when my grandfather who raised me died. From the time he left me until now I fear that those I loved will leave me. Fear has been the master in my life. What I fear proved to be so in many of my relationships.

I am 66 years old and 40 of those years I spent looking at what others had that they said were blessings from God. I often wondered why God didn’t bless “ME TOO”.

After forty-six years I no longer want what I see others have. I have found and created things that I am completely satisfied with and have absolutely no desire to part with my “quintessence things”. The things that I have, they are exactly what I want; they capture a moment in my soul. My “ME TOO” women originated from one of those moments.

Now that I have truly embraced the Scripture as 2 Chronicles 16: 9, I welcome hope into my life. I trust my heavenly Father implicitly and without reservation! I am no longer like an old strange dog just hoping for a few bones, some water to drink and some place to shelter me because God is blessing “ME TOO”!!! What God does for one He will do for ALL.

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