Who Inspires You- Women's History Month

My friend roserose from the old board inspires me. She had to endure awful conditions where she lived in her country, she applied to immigrate to the USA. She learned English, changed her citizenship and has a great job and wonderful life. She challenges me to be a better person and I am so lucky to know her.

I’m a big Maxine Waters fan. I love a spicy elder. True to it not new to it. I’m considering my first ever tattoo to honor her. Maxine Waters then a mermaid or just Auntie depending on my pain tolerance.

I'm inspired still by a woman who was active at my local girl scout day camp. She was a survivor of severe burns over a large part of her body. she was not with any family, but she organized adventures for girls in middle school, using the day camp as the organizing feature. I went on a week long canoe trip around mercer island in lake washington (near seattle) because she made it happen. as a kid I appreciated her, but when I look back at it, her determination and her cheerfulness was so wonderful.. It was a challenging trip. I don't remember her name, but I see her in my mind's eye.

Oh my gosh, so many. I'll go with a science and technology theme.

Shirley Ann Jackson
Katherine Johnson
Shirley Chisolm
Sally Ride
Jane Goodall
Mildred Dreselhaus
Rosalind Franklin

My Dad.

My parents were from a way different generation, and conservative. I was a very late in life baby too,so it compounds it more.

I remember my Dad telling me how amazing my Mom was, because she raised her very young kids when he was overseas in the service. She had no idea where he was station a lot of the time. They didn't have much money. She had a young child and a baby and handled it all alone. She paid the bills, saved money and made things work.

My dad lived in some third world countries, and how the women were treated there made a huge impact on him. He respected my mother, they were equal partners, in an era where that wasn't the norm. It was very important to him that I knew how important my mother was, and how important it was that any relationship I was in -that I should be an equal and respected. Even though he was more on the conservative side, it was important that I knew my sex did not dictate what I could do and how I should be treated.

So many women from history, but two women in my life inspire me every single day.

My mom who came to this country with nothing but a bag of clothes and a baby (me), and spent years working odd jobs to get the bills paid because my dad couldn't seem to keep a job. When I was 7, he was in a debilitating car accident so for years my mom went to night school and roofed houses/worked construction during the day while taking care of dad and keeping the household running. After two separate degrees (because she couldn't' find a teaching job after graduating with a secondary mathematics education degree), she got a job in computer science and has been at the same company for the past 25 years. She's invested in rental properties and is one of the kindest most gracious landlords that I have ever heard of.

And my very dear friend (a fellow pea) who raised a family for 29 years and then suddenly found herself out on her own for the first time and managed to build a peaceful life for herself. She's endured so much - from watching her mother die after a long painful illness many years ago to losing her only daughter in a terrible unexpected accident - she is still the kindest, most thoughtful person that I have ever met in my life. She tells me all the time what a good friend *I* am, but SHE is the one who inspires me to be kind, empathetic, helpful and strong with a wicked sense of humor. I am so incredibly lucky to have her as an example of the kind of human I want to be.

These are two beautiful stories! Thank you for sharing.