TOPAZ HORIZON: Celebrating ME!

Friday, March 31, 2023

Celebrating ME!

Happy Women's Month! It's been a very busy month for me - as a wife, mommy (this role is neverending), sister, working woman, and biological woman (yep, went to see my gynecologist!) ❤️

8 AM selfie at the office!

All month I've been seeing special women everywhere being celebrated. The important kind of woman. You know, CEOs, presidents, big positions with big bucks attached. And yes, I fully, wholeheartedly agree women like that need to be visible and celebrated so that little girls and young women can aspire to be more and older women can appreciate the power and influence a woman can achieve and yield. This is important.

But I also want to honor women who aren't big guns, but are making small and great changes every day with their marriages, children, families, workplaces, and communities. You know, women like me! And you! I want to honor and celebrate me. And you! For getting up every day, even though there is no public acclaim for the invisible work that we do. Except on Mother's Day!😜

I'm not putting myself down by saying I'm unimportant. That's not true. I'm very valuable. Just ask my husband and kids! I've made a difference in many people's lives. Just ask my dear Loyal Readers!

In fact, I'm very proud of myself. I never thought I'd end up here - with a loving husband that I adore and with three incredible sons who adore me! I have a career rooted in words, and with a blog and a book that have influenced many, many women. It's not a huge career. I'm still not filthy rich. I'm still not famous. Then again, superstar, super rich and famous was never the goal so I know why that hasn't happened. Yes, I believe if I really wanted that, I could achieve it but that has never been what I wanted. What I do have now is more than enough, more than the little girl that I was ever imagined.

I realized in the middle of this month for women that I'm the kind of woman my younger self looked up to. I may not be what a lot of people like - I can be too much, I can be not enough - but I'm what 13-year-old me, 18-year-old me, and 22-year-old me hoped to know and wanted to be. Ain't that grand? And I'm just so happy knowing I didn't disappoint those young girls that I used to be. They were searching so badly for a role model and because there were none (hence the importance of celebrating women achievers!), I molded myself into the woman I always wanted to be. And I turned out even better than all the versions of me hoped and dreamed!

Oh, wait. Okay, fine. Not one of the younger versions of me wanted to be a wife and mommy! They'd writhe in horror if they knew, but have I got a story to tell them! But I won't tell young me. Some stories need to be lived. Some lessons need to be learned. Some destinies need to be stumbled upon. And sometimes the path you avoid is the path that leads you to where you're meant to be 🥰

I'm a happy, fulfilled woman. And yet I know that I still haven't reached my full potential. It's not that I'm unsatisfied. I've done more than young me ever thought I was capable of! But the older me, the me now, knows I can still do more!

I'm only 46.

I'm already 46.

More books to write? New roles to take on? New paths to discover? I'm so open to the possibilities!

It's so exciting to be in a marriage, in a time, and in a world that I created so painstakingly, that allows me to withdraw and expand myself whenever I need to. So many women - in this day and age - still don't have choices.

And I hope women like us - women who broke free of generational curses, women who broke the mold we were placed in, women who fought to be what their younger selves dreamed to be - can keep telling our stories and claiming our spaces. We may not be hugely successful in the eyes of the world but we overcame so much to be where we are today. And we need to celebrate that!

Happy Women's Month! May you be the woman your younger self will want to be!