We need Women's History month for so many reasons, John: to celebrate the women who invented, innovated, and inspired throughout history; to commemorate the women who led revolutionary change time and again in the United States and around the world; to recognize the women whose accomplishments have been wrongly negated or ignored.

But this month, we also honor the women in all of our lives, whose everyday actions have shaped our beliefs and motivated us to build a better world.

With that in mind, let me tell you about my relationship with my mom, because it was... complicated.

How complicated? Pretty complicated.

Just as an example, when I was barely 18, we had a disagreement about the length of my hair because it was long enough to stretch down over my ears. We argued and both became frustrated and exasperated and so hurt, that I left home. For good.

Fast forward a few years to a long period of time (years) when Mom stopped communicating with any of my siblings. The cause: a disagreement about the location of Thanksgiving dinner.

At the time, these arguments were consuming, but now I look back and can't help but think, "Pretty ridiculous, huh?"

With age and maturity, I have found my mind and heart have turned in a different direction and I now see other memories more clearly. Like:

How hard Mom (and Dad) worked to provide for us four kids. (Children of the Great Depression, they knew what deprivation and even hunger truly felt like.);

How Mom never missed a sporting event, a concert, or picking me up from whatever after school activity I was engaged in;

Her efforts to set boundaries (and backed them up!) — at the time I chafed against these boundaries, and only after I had my own children did I see the love with which those boundaries were set;

Or, how everytime I broke my glasses she would replace them. I started wearing glasses as a very young boy and I routinely broke them on the playground. But she would replace them despite out-of-pocket costs from our poor insurance.


But, here's what's not complicated: how bone-deep grateful I am for all of her sacrifices to make the lives of me, my siblings, our children, and their children better.

So, this Women's History month, remember the achievements of great women throughout history, but don't forget the everyday achievements and sacrifices of the women in your life.

Denny

P.S. Here's a graduation photo of my mom from when she graduated from Wichita Falls High School in Wichita Falls,Texas, in 1943.

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