Women - we effin rock

Okay, so I had to get some help with my topic this morning. I have the itch to write, but as usual when I try to write my mind goes blank. So I emailed my trusty sources...and I came up with this topic. It's kind of funny too, because two of them came up with the same type of topic.

So today I write about women. How do we get it all done? Here are the great quotes that got me started:

"how we can’t seem to get enough done, work enough, help make the world a better place enough, make enough money, teach our children enough, exercise enough, play with or walk our dogs enough, eat healthy enough, keep our houses clean enough, keep our bodies looking polished enough…" -Sexy Hippy

"I’ve got strong women, strength to overcome incredible odds on the brain… being our mother’s daughters" - The Saint

One kind of answers the other don't you think? Women DO things because they just do. If it needs to get done we do it and sometimes it costs a great sacrifice to ourselves. Can we do it all? I say - yes...eventually. Do things slip through the cracks? I say - yes, but not the really important things. Do we lose our identity? I say - yes, but we find it again, and again, it just takes longer than we think it should some times.

Think about your Mother. Do you think she did everything right? In my case...I think not. BUT, she did everything she could to the best of her abilities and did it better than HER mother. I didn't realize this until I was almost 30 years old. Was our house perfect? No, it was "lived in", which is code for messy, but not dirty. Did she succumb to the weight pressures of the world? Yes, she was always on a diet. Did she make the world a better place? Yes, I think so. She worked at our school so she could be home with us and the neighbor kids until their parents got home. She raised me, so there you go...the world is a better place! HAHA! Kidding. But really, she gave me a sense of right and wrong and filled me with guilt so I wouldn't do stupid things.

Now, how do we take what our Mother's did and apply it in today's world where there are cell phones and computers and it seems like things are going 100 miles per hour? We dig deep and find some strength that we were SURE wasn't there.

I get up in the morning, brush my teeth and get out the door to meet my exercise partner, I come back and walk the pups, I come back and make the coffee and unload the dishwasher while my minute oatmeal is cooking...I say hello to Trainer and make him some oatmeal too (sometimes he does it), and then with my bowl and coffee in hand I take a shower and think about everything that needs to get done today. I eat and blow dry my hair. And then I feed the pups and head off to work. I try and meet my deadlines and balance that with my social interactions via email. I leave work at the last possible moment, get home and feed the pups again, sort the mail and look at my menu to see what I'm making for dinner. I plan in my head what I have to prep ahead of time and do that before I get ready to go swimming. I drive to swimming and make phone calls trying to keep in touch with my family and friends, every 10 minute conversation is precious and if I have to leave a message I'll do my best to make it a message that will make the person laugh or at least know that I love them. I swim and try not to be defeated by the water and the fact that I'm not good at it yet. I drive home, stop at the store to pick up the items that I don't have for dinner and go home and finish dinner. I serve the two of us, clean up the kitchen and sit on the couch with the pups to give them some much needed lovin'. I read a chapter in my book, get my water, take my gazillion pills and kiss Trainer good night. And start the ritual all over the next morning, tweaked with the next days activities.

Now, remember that I do not have children and will never be faced with that challenge. On the other hand I will never know what it is like to have someone look into my eyes and say "I love you Mommy." I can't begin to imagine what life with a child is like. No working out before work...unless you get up at 3-4am and do a stealth run on the treadmill. No swimming lessons...unless it's the kid's swim lessons. But, all of the mother's that I know manage to get it all done. I'm constantly amazed at the bandwidth of a mother. This of course is another post all in itself for I could go on and on about it.

I have friends who have overcome the most devastating situations. Did they think that they could make it? No, not at the time, but they are still with us and stronger than ever. And I'm SO grateful to know these people because they share their knowledge and I become stronger just from knowing them. We share, we love, we evolve...every single day.

Can we save the world? I say - No, but we can try. Can we make a difference? I say - Hell yes we can, one life, one day, one minute at a time.