Kudos to the women; the wise women who forge paths and plan spaghetti dinners. The ones who stay up late praying without end and the ones who let each other’s dogs out to make space for an evening out on the town. Something is shifting in these times; something profound that feels like an en masse similar urgent desire; a movement toward the birthright we always knew was ours to hold. And, my, my aren’t we walking each other home!
We move through supermarkets with new insights about our younger selves and the impossibility of situations we wish we could have changed. Seeing more clearly the choices we made, and yet knowing we were meant for more; a more that we reach for more fully now with an urgency that says ‘hold on!’. Even when we speak on this day, there is a remembrance through time as we hear our mother’s voices in our own, echoing stories through time. Stories of pigtailed girls with fresh faces, scrubbing floors, and birthing new life into the world. Stories of heartache and longing, and secrets told in hushed tones – kept far too long in the body and now finally set free.
We speak for freedom. Despite the second glances at fringed boots worn, and voices we are told are a little too ‘outdoor’ for the circumstance. Well, I say, “‘Indoor voices’ push aside!”. We are tired of being good girls, it is our time! A time for wise women with voices loud and clear. Long have our hearts held wisdom that has quietly been weaving its way to the surface of all things. Much like our mothers and theirs before them, we have all longed somehow to be free and to be loved for that gorgeous messy haired beauty we know ourselves to be.
Thank you to the women I know who walk beside me – known and unknown. The ones who are working tirelessly to help others have some ease. The ones who pick up the phone one more time to try again. The ones who wait patiently. The ones sitting in church pews alone. The ones who encourage each other even in the checkout lines. The ones who stand with red helium balloons and have the courage to let go of the strings that tie, and once more move into that bright clear sky. To all of us, I say “Fly, beautiful one, fly!”
To every woman who looks into the mirror at her own seeking eyes, I say, “I’m grateful for you in my life. Thank you for sharing your stories and your wisdom. Thank you for paving the way for others to speak more clearly still. Your lives make a tremendous difference even when you wonder if anyone notices. Please keep taking good care of yourself, watching your fun TV shows, asking for more, and showing up in moments when you can. Please keep laughing a little too loud and standing your ground when it is safe to do so, and please keep looking for possibilities just around the bend. Pick up the phone. Learn to ask for what you need. Not only for you but because what your need is most usually exactly what the world needs now. We need more of you. And, until which time they plan the spaghetti dinner for you, please know we sit beside you at that table, on that path, and in those pews. Multitudes of us hold hands through time. All proclaiming “We love you!”.”
Love,
Jan
P.S. This post is from my weekly newsletter – Week: 16: You’ll find this week’s free journal pages here. Pages that inspire and bring forth your creative heart! This week you will find a few musings on ways to celebrate the women you admire. I plan on celebrating a few of the women I admire by picking up a book I have about artist Georgia O’Keefe and reading more for inspiration, telling one of the women I admire (who inspired the spaghetti dinner mentioned above) just how much I admire her heart in all she does in her life, and I will silently say a prayer for a woman who has gone before me – knowing there was much she wanted that may never have come to be, but my, my how she is loved fully and completely for who she was and continues to inspire and weave wisdom into the world today
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