Wickeds, we’re wrapping up this month of celebrating strong women. Let’s talk about the strong women in our lives. Share a picture of one of yours and tell us about her.
Barb: I’ve been very lucky to have been surrounded with strong women in my life–and it must be said, strong, self-confident men who loved that quality. My mom, both grandmothers, and my mother-in-law were each in different ways role models for me for how women could be in the world. Educating women and viewing them as equal partners in life is a lo-o-ong tradition in my family. I am so grateful for that foundation.
Sherry: My sister is an amazing woman. She had two devastating traumatic brain injuries with two months of each other over twelve years ago. Since then she’s started her own consulting business, went through the rigorous training to become a yoga instructor, and is an advocate for other people with TBIs. She also teaches yoga for people who are injured among many other things. She’s a fighter and always has a smile on her face. I wish I was half the woman she is.
Edith/Maddie: I can see that you two are related, Sherry! I’ll pick my mother, Marilyn Flaherty Maxwell Muller. A talented artist with fabric and baking, she was a loving but no-nonsense mom and Girl Scout leader. She might have struck you as soft-spoken, but she survived a bullheaded Irish father, a deep depression after she and my father were divorced, and finding her way in the working world again. She discovered a new love after age fifty (which I also did) and happiness sewing a hundred quilts in her retirement. Oh, and she taught me to love mysteries at a young age – which planted the seeds for this, my last and best career.
Julie: I love these pictures! I’m cheating, and choosing two wonderful women. My mother, and her mother, my beloved grandmother. My mother is a kind, lovely person who passed on her love of reading. My grandmother called grandchildren “the applause of life”. She loved me unconditionally, taught me how to bake and how to knit, and told wonderful stories, which I pass on to my nieces and nephews. My grandmother had some tough challenges, but she got through them and left me a legacy of love.
Liz: These are all so lovely. Mine is my boss and one of my best friends, Riham El-Lakany. She is one of the strongest, kindest, smartest people I know. Like most of your women, she’s been through a lot of tough challenges in her life but prevails with grace, dignity and most importantly, kindness. I’ve known her now for more than a decade, and one of the reasons I love her is for her fierce support of women. She builds people up and helps them see their own potential, and most importantly she always has your back. She doesn’t love photos so I didn’t include one her, but trust me, she’s beautiful inside and out.
Readers, what about you? Share a story of a strong woman in your life and why she’s had such an impact on you.