Loving Lynda: The Sunshiny Queen of Catharine Street

SURRENDER DOROTHY

"But there is one thing Dorothy does not do, and that's surrender." 

There she was, having a lovely spa day with her friends at the Emerald City Wash & Brush Company.

You know what happens next.  As they emerge refreshed, ominous music unfolds. Smoke writing unfurls in the sky from the tail of the witch's broom, spelling out one terrifying letter at a time: S-u-r-r-e-n-d-e-r D-o-r-o-t-h-y.  The Emerald Cityfolk look up, horrified.  Dorothy's spa glow evaporates. She, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion huddle in distress.

They seek protection from the Wizard.  Tasked with the impossible ("Bring me the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West") they set out to try. Seized by the winged monkeys, they are separated.  Dorothy's panicked friends fight their fear to find her. Time is literally running out for Dorothy as the red sands of the witch's hourglass sift downward.

  

At her darkest moment Dorothy's friends arrive.  The witch confronts them, setting the scarecrow ablaze.  Desperate to save him, Dorothy douses the flames with water, in doing so, inadvertently melting the witch and saving herself.

This was not the day Dorothy had set out to have. This was not the place Dorothy chose to be. Dorothy is by turns brave, wary, weary and frightened. She makes friends, asks for help, despairs, regroups, fails, falters, and tries again.  But there is one thing Dorothy does not do, and that's surrender.  Dorothy Gale from Kansas is the epitome of resilience.  Swept worlds away by the fiercest of storms, she simply puts one ruby-slippered foot in front of the other, all the way home.