Tea Bags

"A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." - Eleanor Roosevelt

I like me.  I like that I feel strong in spite of my weaknesses.  I like that I’m still learning and growing.  I like that I have experienced so many things, people and places.  So many situations. Good and bad. Obviously, if I had to do some things all over again, I might think a little more about some decisions I made, but then I wouldn’t be where I am.  Right here.  Right now.  Happy and content.  And if you ask me, content is a heck of a lot better than happy.  Happy is fun and momentary.  Content is an all-encompassing satisfaction with your life.  I like that.  It doesn’t mean that I walk around with an ethereal cloud above my head. It means I’m real and my life is good; warts and all.  It’s a great life.

I know other women out there.  Some of them are a lot like me.  Real women.  Strong women.  Women whose lives are quite different from mine, but women who show their strength in their own way every day.  I see beautiful, smart, young women with bright futures.  A lot of studying; college and career decisions.  One is planning a wedding with all the excitement around it.  I remember those days.  Nothing could dampen my enthusiasm and resolve to have it my way.  I know several divorced women – some older, some younger; but with similar burdens and concerns.  A woman whose son committed suicide years ago.  She could’ve fallen apart and died right along with him.  She could’ve resorted to medication and become withdrawn and lonely.  But she isn’t.  She loves him still, of course.  She keeps his memory alive.  And she goes on.  There’s the one with the undiagnosed illness.  Too many doctors and surgeries.  Too much pain and still no relief.  Yet she smiles as she offers blessings every week at church.  And the woman recently separated.  Oh what excessive and sinister doubts we harbor at a time like that!  What does she have that I don’t?  Is she prettier?  Younger?  More interesting?  It’s none of those.  I know.  A couple of women trying to manage their teenagers. You love those crazy kids and the stories are funny sometimes; but draining most of the time.  A woman in her 50s back in college.  I think, yikes!  But she's enjoying it and doing great.  She'll be a teacher next year.  A woman struggling with an unruly child.  A woman who’s trying to find herself in a new and different, but open life.  An octogenarian who’s still shepherding her flock.  Still guiding and helping her family and others every single day. 

Who says women are the weaker sex?  I can prove they're not.  Just look around you and a find a woman.  Start a conversation and ask a couple of questions.  Then hear their life stories.  You’ll be amazed and thankful for all the strong, wonderful women around you.