Happy Mother's Day.

Today is Mother's Day. Today, I miss being closer (geographically) to my mom. It also makes me think about all of the women in my life. I have come from a very woman focused family. I certainly have strong male role models, but by in large, my family is predominantly women. I have a sister (and a brother), my mom has 3 sisters, her mom (pictured above) only sisters, my paternal grandmother has only sisters, and of my cousins, there are 2 boys and 7 girls, of which I am the oldest. The newest generation of my family currently counts at 6 girls and 2 boys. I am godmother to two beautiful girls. Currently, we are a family of women.

Today, I have spent a lot of time thinking about my grandmother, in the above photo. She died almost 2 years ago, and her loss is still acutely felt. She was certainly a strong woman among women. She has taught me so much about what it is to be a strong and successful person, and it was her who lived the example that happiness has little to do with money and things. In the last years of her life, while I was living 'away', we communicated by letters. Those letters are among my most cherished possessions. She was far from perfect; she was stubborn and beautifully imperfect, and that's what made her even more the influence on me. She was one of my biggest supporters and it is hard not to believe in yourself when she believed so strongly that you could do ANYTHING. I can only hope to similarly influence people in my life.

However, its very hard to think of my Nan is gone. She is so not gone. She lives eternally in us. She lives in our ways - our sayings, our mannerisms, our successes, our good and bad habits. She is us and we are her.