Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Dia Internacional De La Mujer



"I had to find a cobbler to make my shoes with no heel to get caught in the bricks of the street. They did not make shoes for women who worked: only heels or leather sandals. That was all you could have."

"There was a special tailor, he would make pockets inside my dresses because the stores only sold dresses for women. Nothing for women who worked. He made me small jackets to wear over my dresses, and in them, I could have my pockets."

"A woman could not go alone into a café. I made my own money, for food for my family, but I could not go in to sit to have a coffee on my way home after work."

"I learned to give the little boys in the street five cents, ten cents, to ride with me in the taxi cab. Women could not drive alone with a man, but with a child with me, I would go where I needed to go and the child with me was able to come to town. The children would line up and wait for me in the morning, knowing I would need one of them with me to ride."
 
"When credit cards first began, a woman without a husband could not have one. A woman needed her husband to open her line of credit for her. I went to the Vice President of the bank, and told him I had been working three jobs in support of six children, and that with his signature, I could get a card. I promised him I would sign anything he wanted to show that I would pay this bill first. He signed for me, and I was given my own card."
 
These are my mother's stories. I share them today for her and for all that women before me have endured with lack of freedom and independence, being treated as less than a man and stopped from doing what a man could do without thought. For my mother, who would get up every morning and once again make her way through the inequality and injustice of life as a woman. For her, for her mother, and her mother's mother, I honor them and thank them for their example of perseverance, fight, and pride, in being a woman.
 
These are my mother's stories, and I am in accordance with her.
 
Women find a way to do what they need to do and keep on improvising, devising, inventing, and making it happen until the world catches up to them.
 
One day, may our world evolve enough to open space for us to be where we ought to be. But until then, I celebrate my mother, and the women of the world, on this day set aside for recognition of the women of the world, International Women's Day.  
 
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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Only Love Today: Release Day!



“Sometimes your children just need you to listen, validate, support and to just be yourself around them. Simply be the kid in them, the kid you so dearly love.”

Last month, we had a string of grey, misty, sunless days.

Then on Friday, the clouds broke.

I had been sitting in my kitchen when I felt the sun warm my back and went to open the front door and looked up to see a clear blue sky. I stood and took in the view. It was much more than a break in the weather, the sun that day served as a reminder that under the cloud-filled skies, the sun was still there.


I had forgotten that the last ten days. Just like on the days that seem filled with failures, my failures, the sunshine of all the good that is in me is still there. I need to remember that I can draw it out and that it's never too late to reset the day no matter the start.

I do this a lot, slide back, inch out a little, then slide back again. Doing the work on my own with my short memory made it even shorter because of negative self talk, is truthfully lost on too many days.

Today I celebrate and am grateful for the release of "Only Love Today: Reminders to Breathe More, Stress Less, and Choose Love," by Rachel Macy Stafford, the bestselling author of "Hands Free Mama" and "Hands Free Life." 

I met Rachel years ago and I have turned to her many times in my personal life because she helps me remember that all of us are better than the criticism we too frequently heap on our own broken backs.


We are good, even when impatient, we are loving, even when frustrated, we seek to do better, even when we fall short.

We can be both at the same time and remembering that is what will save us from giving up hope on what we want for our families, ourselves, our lives.

If you go to Target today (go ahead, you can find a reason) you will see Rachel featured on Target's big screen today. Today is the release day of her work of heart, "Only Love Today."

Pick up a copy and see for yourself why I am writing about her book today. On the simplest level, I believe in her words because we all know that our days are anything but smooth sailing. We need a friend who is always there, we needs words of truth and encouragement and sometimes we need them quick and fast, and pretty much every 24 hrs.

I want the best for my children, in their happiness and in their discovery of who they are, but I don't want to lose my mind over it. I want my family to have happy memories from their life with me, but I don't want to forget myself in the process.


“Only Love Today” can be a go-to inspiration, so keep it close by, in your bag, your purse, your night stand, your glove compartment, your coffee table, like I do. Keep it close to help you when have that feeling of being alone without anyone understanding or appreciating the work you do to find a center in your home.

If a quiet gentle reminder to live undistracted, heart led, is what you seek, pick up "Only Love Today." If you want to learn how to take an ordinary moment, and breathing magic into it with intent, you'll find it in "Only Love Today."


Only Love Today -----  is clarity when you're conflicted.

Only Love Today ----  is unity when you're divided.

Only Love Today ----- is faith when you're uncertain.
 
Only Love Today ---- is a reset button directing you back to what matters most.
 
Thank you, Rachel, for "Only Love Today." We can do what we hope, when we have friends to walk with us along the way.
 
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