Women are Powerful

Today is the day that we celebrate Mothers. I am 66 years old, and I am blessed to still have my Mom to celebrate on this day. I also had two of the best Grandmas a girl could ever want. Strong pioneer women that endured more than they should have. I am pretty sure neither of them ever thought of themselves as powerful, but they were. 

As with everyday of importance comes a mix of emotions. For most today is a happy day, for others it is a sad day remembering or wishing things were different. If you have a personal struggle today, I am sending you strength, may you push through it and dig deep, tomorrow is another day. 

The men from the show, "Shark Tank" were guests on The View. One of them stated, that those most successful in the shortest amount of time are women. Another Shark followed up by saying "if you want something done, ask a working mom, she will get it done". I know when I worked with students, I always knew that the "mom" students would have their assignments in on time or earlier.  They would never be late or ask for an extension.  The due date was written into their calendar, and they delivered.   

There is a TV advertisement by Natalie Spooner that catches my eye every time I see it.  Natalie is an accomplished hockey player with the Canadian Ladies hockey team.  She skated until she was 36 weeks pregnant and was back playing, 6 weeks post-partum. Here is her personal quote: "Women are powerful, they can do whatever they want".

                            

Don't we all know at least one, if not more of the little girl in the picture. I absolutely love the spirit of a strong-willed little girl. It is exhausting as a parent, but it is clear from a very young age, no one is going to push her around. She is headed to the top of something, who knows what, but rest assured she will get there. Women have so many opportunities to do whatever they want in today's world, and I love that they can be whatever they want to be.

                                       

At one time, having a diploma was adequate education for a professional position. Now a person needs a degree or a masters to even be considered for many of those positions. I have always believed that it is so important for girls to be educated. For the vast majority of situations, if there is going to be a single parent home it is usually a single mom. I have already blogged about education and my point here is that knowledge is power. Any kind of education that you can get makes you a wee bit more powerful than you were before. You hear stories of single mom's working more than one job to support her family. What a struggle to make a life for her and her family. I, by no means, am discrediting the supportive Dad's and they are out there and bless them for being there. It is just so important that everyone has some type of something that makes them employable. 

Michelle Obama is someone that I have utmost respect for. She was told at school she was too ambitious and her dreams were too big. The world is blessed that she didn't listen to the wise people at school. In all that Michelle has said and done in her life, I am sure she would say her best accomplishment was having her two daughters by IVF. 

I agree there is no limit to accomplishments in life. An accomplishment to me is something that you do, that you didn't think you could do. Or, so often we have a long list of nasty tasks to get done and when they are done, they are accomplished. Or, my personal favorite, "I have accomplished nothing today?" 

It is said that, for the most part, children are most influenced by the same sex parent. That does not mean only in a positive way, but that parent may be the biggest example of what a child doesn't want to be.

Women are unknowingly powerful in so many ways. What women endure just being women is evidence enough. Then throw pregnancy and giving birth in as a demonstration of brutal strength. Not to mention living a life with no sleep. Sickness never seems to hit the woman in the household the same as the other members of the family. And the list goes on. 

In closing, I hope today is a day of reflection. Think about how strong you are and what that means to you. No one is spared personal struggles and somehow have survived them. That's because Women are Powerful, never ever, ever forget that.