Women and Sisters Unite

I wouldn't be a teenage girl again for anything. Matter of fact, I wouldn't be anyone under the age of thirty again. They all seem to have tunnel vision. And I guess when you're that young, things just really do seem that simple. She’s prettier. He has a hotter car. She’s smarter than everyone else. He’s such a nerd. They don't wear the right clothes or live in the right neighborhood.

The first thing that happens; the circle is broken. The young can be so harsh, so quick to judge, and so long to forgive. They don't have to have limitations, or make lines in the sand, or make rules that may have to be bent or broken, given unforeseen circumstances. They are so strong in their convictions, they have no idea, that one day, there will be circumstances that will weaken those convictions and test their beliefs. There will be people who will question and make them question, their own morals and faith.

There will be events that will be so tumultuous they will never believe recovery is possible. There will be sickness and death of both friends and family that will make them question their beliefs and why things happen the way they do. How the roster of the chosen few seems to include those they know and love, and not strangers whom they will never know. Why they and theirs were chosen to suffer and feel unimaginable pain.

There will be lost jobs and troubled children. They will be parents at a loss, because their children are behaving in ways they could have never believed; and certainly never planned. There will be parents who will grow older and need the same care they provided, just a few years ago themselves.

And there will be women; who will still know one another, now as mothers, parents, co-workers, and survivors. They will compare pictures, stories, grandchildren, husbands, dead beat dads, aches, pains, and heartache. There will be women who can no longer remember why they stopped speaking in high school.

There will be women who now pray together and pray for each other. We will be happy and sad together. We will suffer when our sisters suffer and wish we could carry the load that others are so surely tired of trying to carry alone. We will wish we could absorb their pain, if even for only a day. We will cheer as they celebrate the births of grandchildren and cry as they watch their parents begin their departure for a better place. We will cheer when one of us celebrates another cancer free year, and wear our knees out praying together when one of us discovers we have a battle of our own.

Hopefully they will go to college, learn a trade and strive to be self-sufficient. One day they may have husbands, children, and jobs. Or after 15 years, find they may be divorced and alone, again. They will have both financial and life obligations that will require all of their attention and time.  It will be about surviving. Life is full of gray, of reading between the lines, and sometimes moving that line in the sand; one more time.  There are no guarantees for happiness. No matter that you came from money or the other side of the tracks.

The back you turn today could be the same back that may have to carry an awful load alone one day. We're all just the same as we are different.  We all want, need, and hurt. We can do it alone, or we can do it surrounded by some of the strongest people you will ever be lucky enough to have known.

The women in your life will be there forever; if you let them in. I know because I am surrounded by some of  the smartest, no common sense, prettiest, plainest, nerdiest, financially well off, financially struggling, in shape and not, driving old cars, hot cars, single, divorced, married, widowed, women in the world. And I am so very proud to call all of them, my friends. And God bless the special women in my life who are struggling or have struggled with Cancer. My knees stay in constant state of bend for you all.

copyright © 2011 Michelle Mount Mims