Women are amazing beings. We are fire and ice, blood and wine, satin and steel. We can do anything. Yet, I hate telling young girls they can be anything they want when they grow up because they have never considered it a possibility that they COULDN’T. I used to say that. Now, I prefer to encourage them to find their passion and go for it with everything they have in them.
My older grand daughter sat in my camper with me the first summer after losing Mr. Virgo. This is my quiet child. Up to that point, I’d swear we never spoke for a total of an hour in her young ten year life. But this day, she found her words and her comfort zone with me. We talked about summer vacation. She said she didn’t like it…she’d rather be in school. I asked the inevitable adult question. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” She told me she wanted to be a teacher, like her mommy. “An admirable profession”, I said. Then I asked if she wanted to teach because her mommy does, or because she has a great passion for teaching. She kind of sheepishly dipped her eyes and grinned. “Because mom teaches.” “That’s cool”, I told her. “You’re mommy is a great teacher. You could be a great teacher, too. But let me ask you this. What excites you? What problem do you see in the world that you could fix? What’s something you could change that would make this world a better place to live in?” Her eyes lit up. She said, “Nana, did you know we have the capability to send people to Mars right now but there’s no way to bring them back? They can’t carry enough fuel with them. I want to figure out what they can take with them that they could turn into fuel to make the return trip!” “Well, see there? THAT’S a passion! That’s something that could make you excited to go to work every day just like you’re excited to go to school every day!” She seemed satisfied with that and the topic meandered on till she was finished being social and was on to other new and exciting things.
We are all Wonder Women. Don’t ever forget that. It’s our job to BE that. It’s our job to bring up young girls to believe that they already ARE little Wonder Women and they need to find the place in the world where their talents are most useful and gives them the most joy.
It was never a dress…it was a woman of power and courage!
❤
“Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.”
Proverbs 9:13-18