Here’s to Strong Women

“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”

When I started writing these blogs for Tuesday publishing I didn’t intend for it to include this day. We just wanted to publish one on the day that we left for our first trip on the boat. Now, on this day, I get to write to you on International Women’s Day. Somehow, somewhere, the universe knew that this would mean something great to me. Happy day of the woman, everyone.

Identifying as a woman myself, this day is extremely celebratory.  Even on days when I feel insecure, not happy with my body, or in a funk, I am able to pull all of the good things together that I feel about myself and all of the badass women I know to celebrate this International Women’s Day.  We have so many pressures; how to look, how to dress, how to act, how to grow, how to live, what jobs to have, what we get paid, who accepts us and who doesn’t.  We have all of these things expected of us, yet still we shine our own light.  Still, we make a way where there was none and forge our own paths to what we believe success looks like.  Though it may be challenging at times, I am so honored to be a woman.  

So this one is to the women I know, who loved me, shaped me, and continue to be such a light in this world where we are shown so much darkness.  

There is nothing like being with women who celebrate each other.  When you find that group, those people who would do anything to comfort you, laugh with you, grow with you – that is when you’ve found your people.  Those people will change over the years as you grow and move and change on your own, but they will always be a part of what made you YOU.  

In my life, I have had many groups of women who I knew I could call on at any moment if I needed them, and for that I am so grateful, and extremely lucky. My sweet Mason Jars, who I lived with for only a year, and my wonderful friends from Chapel Hill, those ladies would hold your hand as you cried, run through fields with you when you were happy, and fall on the floor with you from laughing so hard. My forever friends from home always make the world feel a little more like it did when I was younger. They remember the kid I was and acknowledge the woman I am. The dimensions of friendship these women have withstood as we’ve grown is something to never take for granted.

Now, I feel like I can’t write this blog on this day without mentioning the woman I look up to the most, the one who brought me into this world, my best friend, my Mom.

So, Mom, this one’s especially for you.

I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to put into words the appreciation I have for you.  As a kid, I wanted to copy your outfits and be wherever you were.  But could you blame me?  Anyone who knows my mom, knows what I mean.  She is kind. She is smart.  She is beautiful.  She is funny.  She is the person I call when I need advice or have questions or just want to talk.  I can call with tears in my eyes and she knows something’s wrong from a simple “hey”.  She can make me laugh so hard I snort, which is funny because she’s the one that gave me that laugh.  We dance the same and giggle the same.  We love the same and we fight the same.  She brightens days.  She teaches children.  She loves her own and holds onto them tightly.  She has been to hell and back, hospitals and graves.  She has walked us through so much loss and somehow been able to show love and shine light through it all.  I hope I can be half of the woman she is.  My Dad, my brothers, me — we would not be the people we are without that woman.  She is a badass and a mother, a writer and a teacher, a lover and a friend, a griever and a giver, a woman and a lady, beautiful and fierce.  She is my Mom.  And geez, I am so lucky to say that.

I feel that there is so much more to say, about Mom and every woman out there, but I’m at a loss for words now.  My heart is grateful to know women who lift others up and celebrate with them.  

We are a force to be reckoned with, and we will not stop until we are heard, equal, and taken seriously as the people we are.

Cheers to you, women, may you never forget your worth and your place in this world.

All my love,

Skye