The Sisterhood

Today was a goosebumps giving, love sharing, super inspiring, thought provoking, stance taking, and a history making kind of day. And...let me say this right off the bat...THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL POST! No matter what political party you affiliate with...we are all humans. This is a HUMAN thought...specifically a human women thought. Today I was able to talk to my daughter a lot about what was happening not only in DC today, but around the world. Women were standing together in a common bond to support one another. Whether or not you  agree with everything they stood for, or perhaps you stood with them...that is completely not my point! We stood together...just for each other. Not for the skinny or curvy, not for the momma or business woman, not for the highly educated or inexperienced, not for the well-to-do or for the less fortunate...nope today...we just stood...TOGETHER! I have often listened to Beyonces song..."Run the World", and I have thought to myself...one main reason that we don't run the world is because we are too busy tearing each other down. Yup...you heard me. As women...we have this horrible thing that we do. We judge....A LOT. And we don't only do it internally, we bring in other women on it.
"Did you see what she is wearing?"
"Did you hear about what her husband did?"
"Can you believe how she lets her children run around like that?"
"Can you believe how she has let herself go?"
"No wonder she's not married"
" I wonder why she isn't married?"
"Why hasn't she had children yet?"
"I don't understand why she doesn't want to help support her family"
"She works so much...she must neglect her family"
"I can't believe should would be in that march today!"
"I can't believe she didn't march today!"
"She's too soft"
"She's too hard"
"She's too feminine"
"She's too masculine"
Do any of these sound familiar? Maybe they came from our own mouths, or maybe we have heard one or more of these said about us. It's ridiculous. I hate it. I want us to stop it.
Today I heard about my daughters dreams. She wants to go to Juliard for college. She wants to be on Broadway. She doesn't even want to think about getting married until her mid to late thirties, and kids are not even a thought for her yet. She's independent. Sometimes fiercely so. I never have to check to see if her homework is completed....I know it is. I never have to check her grades...I know they are all A's or at least will be. I never have to ask her if she is ready for an audition...She has already been practicing for over a month. She is strong willed, she loves being able to out-push-up some of the boys in her gym class, she tends to be a perfectionist, she is not a fan of having to ask for help...BUT...on the flip side...she is sweet, she cares for her friends...DEEPLY, she cries when one of her friends is sad, seeing a homeless person rips her heart out of her chest, she loves everything pink and sparkly, and buying her a pedicure might be one of the fastest ways to her heart. She is the reason I love being a woman. There is so much strength, softness, beauty, compassion, stubbornness, grace, elegance, knowledge and brut force in all of us. It's amazing!! And today...we were able to show that. We showed all of that in marching. We showed it in not marching. We showed it in supporting. We showed it in our silence. We...we as women had a day to be us. There are so many of us. We are all amazing and unique in our own ways. We are human. We love. We fight. We care for. We disagree with. We support. We run businesses. We run homes. We stand our ground...many times with differing views of each other...and that is ok. I just want all of us to not let our differing views and personalities to matter more to each other than our sisterhood does. I don't expect all of us to be best friends...but I feel like if we gave one another a little more of a chance...we could find a common ground with one another. I feel like it might be time to make Beyonces song a true one...but we can only do that if we truly find a way to love each other...just for being in the same sisterhood...just for being women.
If you are strong and independent...I admire you. If you are a democrat...I love your views. If you are a republican...I appreciate your views as well. If you never want to be married or have children...good for you...I hope you get out of life everything that you ever wanted. If all you want to do is be married and raise babes...that's awesome...I hope you find so much fulfillment in that. If you want to be the best business woman ever...I applaud you...you go for it. If you want to be the biggest dreamer there ever was...please keep dreaming...we need more of you. If you want to be the strongest and hardest woman ever...that's amazing and I can't wait to see what you accomplish. If you want to be the softest and most compassionate women that you can be...I so appreciate that and I love your heart for others. If you want to be a mixture of all of these things listed above...that is beyond wonderful and I can't wait to see the amazingly beautiful force you have in this world.
Whether you agree or disagree with the reason behind the marches today...I hope we can all see that we as women can be a force to be reckoned with...for good! My heart is smiling at the fact that my daughter can grow up in a country where women unite for one another...where we come together to encourage and stand up for one another. Our views and beliefs will always differ...but our sisterhood will always remain the same. Let's chose to be good sisters to one another...lets chose to love each other...lets chose to enourage, support, and believe in one another.  I don't care if we ever "run the world" (ok...that's a lie...I kind of do care)...but I hope that someday we can look back on this very day and realize that as women...we were a part of history...and we were a part of the start of something beautiful.