international women's day

Happy International Women's Day y'all.

This "holiday" was getting a lot of play on social media today as things like this tend to these days. I will admit IWD was not something I thought a lot about until I heard the following on the radio this morning..... In honour of IWD who is a woman who has influenced you?

Well the long answer is lots of them in various little ways, but then I spent the day thinking about who the biggest ones were.

My Mom. Obviously. Cliche, sure, but also very true. If my Mom taught me one thing I would have to say it was to tie my shoes........ kidding, but she did do that too. No I think the most valuable thing is that life is going to be shitty sometimes, but you can't use that as an excuse or a crutch or a free pass to act like an asshole. And those sucky moments, they don't define you. They are a part of your history, but they aren't you.

My Grandma. My Mom's mom. At her knee I saw what unconditional love was in the truest sense. She also taught me that loving someone doesn't mean always liking them and/or what they are doing. Also life is shitty sometimes, it's better to handle it with grace (wonder where my Mom got it from).

Auntie KK. She taught me that you can do for others for only so long and then you have to take care of yourself. And if you're smart you'll keep those scales balanced before it becomes a problem.

ML. She let me ride her coat tails when we first met, the whole time showing me the person I could be.

Grateful for those ladies and their influence in my life thus far is a true understatement. I don't have enough words to adequately thank them for the gifts they are to me.