Women's History

Today, March 1 is the first day of Women's History Month. No doubt many women of notoriety will be recognized and honored, rightfully so. However, us everyday people have stories about a woman/women who have greatly influenced us in some way. Here are mine:
Five women come to mind. My mother through her caring, compassion, love and sense of humor protected me from a family of bullies and saved me from harming myself as a teen. She provided unconditional love and gave me a sense of being valued.
My third grade teacher Mrs. freeze and fourth grade teacher Mrs. Cameron both took me, a shy recluse, under their wing. They gave me strength and confidence that I had not known before or even knew I had. They followed and helped me for years after I left their class rooms. They were sisters.
I spent 32 years in the Financial services industry. The best manager I ever had by far was a woman. She was the epitome of what a manager should be. She inspired and motivated her staff through strength, insight, intuition, patience and genuine caring. She gave me the power, freedom, encouragement and support to do my job that I had not experienced before. We remain close friends after 35 years.
Lastly, I am a volunteer mentor for survivors of human trafficking. A woman I have been working with for over a year now has added so much more depth and inspiration to my life. Her story is one of great pain and sorrow that would be cause for many of us to just give up. She didn't. She dug very deep within herself to overcome her past, right herself and move forward. I now wonder who is mentoring who. This woman is an example of what humans can do when their internal power is released. In fact, she is now in training to become a mentor herself.
I could go much further in describing these women but I am going to savor that for myself.

Can I hear your stories?

Sheena123

Even though my mother isn’t who she was while I was growing up, I will say my mom was a woman of influence to me. She was a great mother back then. She would come into my room in the morning and wake me up by singing a soft song, have my cereal ready and a flintstone vitamin on stand by. Would always play board games with me and brushed my hair and braided it every single night. She’s completely opposite now but I’ll hold on to those memories 🌸

I had a 6th grade teacher : Mrs.Ewald. When I was having “lady troubles”, at the time I was living with my dad and he brushed off my issues. I brought up these issues with my teacher and she took the reigns. She was so helpful, showed me what to do and proved to me that whenever I needed her, she would be there.

In church, there was an older couple that had children but they were all grown up and out of the house. So I guess they were lonely. They saw my destitute life 😅 and the wife Diane took me under her wing. She called me her little sister and she was my big sister. We had sleep overs, she taught me a lot of cooking and cleaning. She kept my morality in check. One delicious snack she showed me was strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar. Don’t diss it. Try it first. She was also a 60 year old lady that would play Diablo 2 on the computer with me. Awesome woman.

My sister is a huge influence. She’s my whole world. My best friend. She’s 4 years younger than me but when I had to leave my abusive husband at the time, she let me live with her. She taught me how to apply make up, how to work Facebook and made sure I didn’t lose my mind. She was by my side through all the crying and the divorce and every other horrible thing that was going down. I could cuddle into her and we would watch movies, we could sit in a car with a Frappuccino in hand and talk for 10 hours lol I love her so much 💖💖

I guess that’s it for me.

@Sheena123 Thank you for those stories. I hope the feelings you have stick with you forever.

Sheena123

@Mmart aww thanks hun 🌸
You have some really uplifting stories. I enjoyed reading them 💖

Thank you Mmart for witnessing and describing how much importance and valuable influence these women had in your life. Reading these words coming from a man brings me hope and I feel relief when reading them.

Relief in that there are men in the world who are able to value women and their impact in your life

Thank you

@Evita Thanks back at you.

She takes just like a woman
Yes, she does, she makes love just like a woman
Yes, she does, she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl

BOB DYLAN

This is day 2 of Women's History Month. Anyone want to share their story??

pmvines

Well as a strong independent proud woman i think we .....

No doubt many women of notoriety will be recognized and honored, rightfully so.

Ah. Yes, all those notorious women. Like, um, Margaret Thatcher and Ching Shih and, uh, Aileen Wuornos and... Jane Toppan? I guess? Dorothea Puente? Griselda Blanco? Bonnie Parker, maybe?

Anyway, notoriety and infamy and disrepute aside, I have had some lovely women in my life.

I must have had.

Surely.

And I'll tell you all about them just as soon as I remember who they were and what they did to greatly influence me in a positive manner. Uh....

[several minutes later]

Okay. Look. There just haven't been very many obviously positive influences in my life. Female or male. But I guess my mom taught me to be tough. That's positive, right? She taught me to handle things on my own, to get things done without asking for help, to lick my own wounds and keep going.

She taught me not to be entitled. She taught me never to expect help. She taught me to be self-sufficient. And the lessons were painful, sure... but they were good lessons all the same.

Right?

And I do appreciate it.

@DarrenWalker Thanks for checking in. Your comments are always cause for thought and are appreciated.

I work in a male-dominated industry, and haven't met many other women in my field. But most of the ones I've met are my goddamn heroes for sticking it out and doing what they love!

My mother and I have never been close, but I did have an aunt I loved dearly who died last year. She was in a male-dominated industry as well. She was hard-working, blunt as hell and larger than life, a riot to spend time with, and just an all-around great person. I miss her so much.

GentleMan1111

Women have always been the larger positive influences in my life, both growing up and in adulthood.

littermate

Great thread, thanks @Mmart.

My 4th grade teacher. I felt for the first time that my intelligence was recognized and valued.
Louisa May Alcott - her character Jo spoke to me.
Helen Reddy - her song was so well-timed and she modeled a way to be empowered while still being loving at a time when to be feminist seemed to mean to be kinda mean.
My best friend - most intelligent, sharpest, wittiest, person who has loved the be-jesus into me.

Sideon

My boss and first mentor, Sonja, was a single mom of two girls, the oldest who was attending college, and the youngest who she would bring into work and had a mini "office" set up under her desk where the little one could do homework, color, draw, and read. Sonja challenged me, she accepted me for me, and she supported and defended me in my position and budding career. She was the Controller, and I was one of the few men in the Business/Administrative offices at the time. She was the one that demanded and expected that family and personal time come first, something I valued and appreciated then and carry forward to this day. Her power was quiet and consistent, her "fuse" and patience were long, and when she locked eyes with leadership (or supposed leaders), she could both disarm and alarm them with a gesture or glance. It was like watching a tai chi competition in fast forward, knowing the battle was over before you saw anything happen.

Years later her oldest was married and had a child of her own and asked me to commission a fused glass mosaic for a fundraiser, and I couldn't decide on a specific design so I made two different ones, which her daughter loved. At the fundraiser, Sonja bid and "won" both of them for her daughter. Her generosity was inspiring.

If she was mamma bird, I was the fledgling she trusted to fly. I owe the world to Sonja and the opportunities she created.

Women do and should rule the world. Most men have yet to figure this out. #sorrynotsorry

Thanks for this thread, @Mmart .

I am loving hearing all of your stories.
Thank you.

@littermate Netflix has a great documentary on Helen Reddy. I loved it.

@Sideon Similar to a story of mine. Sometimes we get lucky in life.

@GentleMan1111
Thanks for your thought. I think that is true for me too.

@squeakytoy
Sorry for your loss. The fact you miss her so much says it all.

BoomerSpooner

My grandmother who passed away in 2010 at the age of 98 was an extraordinary woman. My great-grandmother died when she was 6 in southern Arkansas. She was the daughter of a sharecropper (more like a dirt farmer) who thought women were worthless and would tie her to a rocking chair on the porch of the shack. By the time she was 12 he begrudged the fact she could read, drove over state lines into Mississippi and dropped her off at an orphanage for girls. She became the first inmate of that orphanage to get professional training and became the Head Nurse of Surgery at a Texas hospital for 50 years. She even died on her own terms—telling us she was done and would only take ice chips and died in her own bed at home. She taught me to not give a crap what people think.

My mom, her daughter, died in a plane crash at the age of 54. She was an expert pilot but was given the wrong ceiling height on a stormy day. At any rate, she became the first female President of the CPA Association in her state and audited the state, county and cities in that state. She was the first at her college to graduate with an above 4.0 GPA and is still the highest GPA in the history of the university. When she died, the crowds spilled out into the parking lot.

But I never really cried about them. While they were tough and blazed trails, it was my dad who hugged me, came to my extracurricular activities, and was there in my worst hours.

I admired my mom and grandmother but I loved my father. Just goes to show that gender doesn’t mean shit a lot of times.

UKGuy

@DarrenWalker - Margaret Thatcher would not have been called notorious if she was a man, she'd have been called a strong leader.

@FunCartel I think there is a great movie within that story. That was an awesome read. I agree with your last statement. We are all just people doing the best we can.

@UKGuy
That may or may not be true but maybe its a discussion for another thread.
@DarrenWalker
Please don't go anywhere with this here.

@Mmart: Noted.

littermate

@Mmart Consumed it!

Amortentia

That was great @Mmart . It seemed really genuine and from the heart. You mentioned having two female teachers and I can relate to that. My favorite teachers were mostly female and my most memorable are Mrs. Berryman and Mrs. Bonds. They were my 2nd and 3rd grade teachers. They were really there for me and helped me grow and make friends at a time when I barely moved to the US and not only did I not have friends yet...I didn't know English. They helped me from scratch. Even when I was crying and had cuts and scrapes from playing on the playground and stuff. Then in 3rd grade the teachers had to pick their 5 top smartest students or best learners and I was one of them. They always pushed me forward because they knew that I could do it even when I faced challenges. I still remember all the Magic Treehouse books and all the other stuff they bought me to help me learn English and tackle everything else. Some teachers really are great.

@Amortentia Thank you for sharing. It seems like educators can/do have a great influence on the lives of young people. No.w, if we can only get them paid