Strong Women

Strong.   How do you define the word?   How did you come to that definition and why?   If I were going to draw a picture of strong it might be an "Omega" sign.  If I wanted to see a picture of strong I might see a person with an abundance of hypertrophy.   Yet when I use the word strong as an adjective to women my perspective shifts and I am flooded with millions of images, circumstances and a little wit to soften my aggressive thoughts on the matter.  Lady Gaga, uncanny but strong.   Wonderwoman, supernatural but strong.  The full conglomeration of my girlfriends- all strong.  
I'm thinking on another wavelength today as I am troubled by my friends' troubles.   Yet as I have cleared my head in attempt to give my best advice to all four of these women, I have realized that their stirs are their strengths.  I believe that the challenges we face, even if we created them, are the very lessons that present our life strength.   I'm not positive inner strength can be measured in pounds or milligrams or money or manipulation, but what it takes to retain contentment with ourselves.
I'm recalling four close friends who have, after much contemplation, have left their unhappy and unfulfilling relationships to move FORWARD in their lives.  That is strong!  They are undoubtedly feeling moments of weakness and perhaps cowardice, but it is their determination to live a great life that inspires me.   No doubt people will cast stones, but unless you are trapped IN a glass house, maybe you shouldn't. 
 I am reminded of my friends who have children with special needs. Having no children except a hyperactive Great Dane, I can only think I can imagine what it must be like to wake up and care hand and foot on another human being for the rest of YOUR life.  The worries of others that might ridicule or be fearful of these children and who will watch after them long after their parents are gone.   I left for 9 days and worried myself into a frenzy about a dog.  What would it be like with a child?  I solute the women (and men) that show their strength to their children day after day without complaint.   Strong!
I am reminded of a young lady and triathlete, Liz, that lost her sister then her boyfriend in one defeaning crash.  The courage it took for her to stay true to herself and allow her friends supportand her beliefs guide her way, was inarguably strong.   I still wonder how she keeps living,racing  and trusting without any visual sign of defeat.   Strength!  She is one of my biggest inspirations and for her model of strength, I am grateful. 
I am reminded of my friend Nicole, that moved away years ago from our sad little provincial town, alone, and never looked back.  She finds strength everyday to wake up, go to the gym, go to work and be one of the most selfless people I know.   Without her strength I know I couldn't have made it.

  As I become clearer on who my friends are, I am fortunate also to have Gretchen, a fellow triathlete ut an even bigger role model.  The old saying " When life throws you lemons..."is the epitomy of her.  No matter what the situation, she makes a mean glass of lemonade!  I've yet to see her lose her cool, and what's better than a cold glass of lemonade? 

 How could I forget my soul sister Erica?  She is a true symbol of rags to riches.   In the time I have known her, she has worried herself into a blunder on the tides of being a business owner now only to be surfing the successful highway of entrepreneurship and coming nto her own life- as SHE wants it.

Strength.   I have sat here thinking of all the ways strong can be illustrated and I am humbled by its humble nature.   Strong is what you or I do when noone else is looking.  It is who we are and who we have the courage to be.   It is the voice in your head beating the hell of the villain that opposed you.   It is the focus, the drive, the "oh what the hell go for it anyway".   It is my favorite quality in people as it takes on countless personas.  It is Debbie and Shayna and how their mother /daughter relationship will indefinitely thrive superceding their lifespans and pass on to their children.

  It is my mother, perhaps one of the strongest I have known, who worked more than she saw her children, who lost more than she gained, who was the "black sheep" but rose to the occasion and raised us all on her own.   My mother, who always served herself last masking poverty from us, bought us a home, and sent us out on our own to become- strong. 

I have not felt particularly strong lately and I know it is short lived.  Whn I see the strength from those around me under the pressures they have, and yet they still rise to the top, I am epowered.   I felt inclined to make a blog about them, and draw my strength from them.   I hope they don't mind that I have put it into words.   "Don't ever think one person can't change the world, for that is all who ever have"- Margaret Mead