International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day! All week, I've been thinking about all the amazing women in my life. When I was 4, my mom (who had just been diagnosed with MS) moved me and my two brothers in with her parents near Corpus Christi, TX. My brothers were 6 and 8. My grandparents owned a grocery store and were planning their retirement. And we got dumped on them, as well as an ill daughter. I put it in those terms because that's how I had always felt.

My grandmother was a very strong willed woman. And while she allowed no room for error (or any sort of learning curve for children), she did what she needed to do. They gave up all the traveling they had planned to do. They took my mom to the doctor, got home health involved, taught us what to do, and we all took care of her. Money was always tight, and we wore a lot of hand me downs. My grandfather was always the kind one, but my grandmother always got the job done. Yeah, she was a hard-ass. Totally. But if I look at her in another light, I can see that because she was kind enough to take us in (and they were the type of people that there was never any question), we were allowed a life. I can't view my childhood as woe-is-me blah blah blah. Circumstances were not good. But we were fed, we knew responsibility, and we grew up.

I remember at my mom's funeral... my grandmother lingered after almost everyone else was gone. She went up to the casket and completely broke down (I don't think I had ever seen her cry). It was an inhuman wailing, and it took all she had. Children are not supposed to precede their parents in death, and my heart went out to her as her other children assisted her out of the funeral home. She never spoke of it, I'm quite sure she did not know how.

About five years later, when I was 19, I moved away. My grandparents took me to the bus stop and they told me they loved me. It was the first time in my life that they had told me that. Sad. But to this day, I think they did the best they knew how. They taught me responsibility, good work ethics, and to not ever let my children go a day without knowing that they are loved!

There are many stories about my grandmother that I've heard, and I know that she was an amazing woman. Amazing never means without faults. It means they take all of the trials and tribulations in life and still make the best they can from it.

I challenge all of you to honour the amazing women in your life... on this International Women's Day, and every day.