I am Woman
A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
Today is International Womens’s Day.
I like Eleanor Roosevelt. She is a bad ass. She is one of two historical Eleanors with whom I would like to do tequila shots, the other being Eleanor of Aquitaine. Mrs. Roosevelt lived out loud in a time when her opinions and ideas were considered outlandish and inappropriate in general, never mind coming from a woman.
There are so many powerful women who don’t make it into the history books, but are amazing. Women whose contribution was the example they set by showing up every day and moving forward, even when there didn’t seem to be the energy for the action. Women who raised and protected their children, made magic with government cheese and canned beans so those children would have something to eat. Women who crossed the ocean, kerchief tied beneath their chins, clasping the hands of the next generation of citizens and maybe nothing else. Women who grew up in times of famine and times of abundance, who shrugged and went on planning for the next lean time. Women who taught songs and poems, recipes and traditions so that the next group would remember. Women who pursued an education, even when it wasn’t expected of them, and then went on to provide the gift of learning to others. Women who thought they had it figured out, only to be smacked down, and smacked down again…each time rising back up, revising the plan as they did. Women who taught other people that they have their own reservoirs of strength, their own particular gifts and talents, who baked cookies and prayed for each other, even when their houses were falling down.
Being a woman is hard. It is also amazing…in the true sense of that word.
