Strong Women

It's been FAR too long since I've posted here--more about that another time.  Today is Mother's Day, and I'd like to focus a bit on that......

"Strong Women"

I have the pleasure of being raised by and surrounded most of my life by strong women. Not the settler-build-a-house type of strong, (although my mom could easily get in and kill a chicken or help out with a hog-killin', and did, when needed) but strong of thought, action and deed. I grew up knowing both of my grandmothers and a great, great aunt. Aunt Florence, even though she died when I was an early teen, had a great influence on me in knowing what a strong woman was all about. My mother and her sister Martha, were obviously guided and heavily influenced by her as well. Both of these women, even though I didn't see Martha all that often over the years, have shaped me in many ways that I didn't always recognize. I've always said my mother is just about the smartest person I can ever imagine knowing, and she continues in that role. Probably, though, the most important thing mom ever did for me was to allow me to go. There as needed, but never overtly limiting or requiring me to be other than I was.

As I became involved with my wife, and learned her family, I recognized a similarity of strength, in her grandmothers as well as her mother and her aunt Martha (which we all chuckled that it must be fate, since we both had aunt Martha's....) The strength there was different, still strong, just carried out in a different way. Although my mother-in-law passed away five years ago, the strength of her life and way of living still comes out in much that we do. Both of my brothers-in-law married strong women who are shaping the lives of their children similarly to the way my life was shaped.

So what is "strong"? My descriptors can best be realized in my wife, Kim. We've been through so much together (you know, the for better/worse, sickness/health, richer/poorer) that I could point to almost any month of our nearly 26 year marriage and give significant definitions of "strong". Here's a snapshot/overview of how I see strong in her: in the early years of our relationship, she finished the entirety of a music education degree in 3 years, having switched from being a journalism major (many stretch to 5....but not her); immediately upon graduation, we were married, and moved to Penn State---what did she do with that hard earned music ed degree? became a bank teller.....; then off to Michigan, where some teaching commenced, but not really what she trained for; the back GA where we had our first daughter, Taylor, the finally to NC, where we've been and raised our family. And, she finally got to teach music, but realized that in order to support our family best, being a music teacher was not the right path, and she changed to best fit the needs of us. Our first five years together she showed strength I still am in awe of---and her abilities as Mother have only caused me to stand back and watch with amazement.

All of these described things, this strength, come down to one fundamental element:
Love. All of these women I describe were/are full of love, and know how to share it, use it, and demonstrate it in all they do. They love through romance, through tenderness, through discipline, through leading and guiding, and by just being.

thank you to all of them, and all other strong women who fill our lives.