My Mother.

My Mother didn't raise a domestic goddess, I became one with her help, but much later in life.

So what did she raise?

A warrior.

A Viking.

An adventurer.

An artist.

A teacher.

A therapist.

A friend.

A lover.

Growing up she never taught me to cook. She waited to do that until after I got married.

She never had me do a single load of laundry until I went to college.

She didn't teach me to sew.

Or how to dust, and vacuum.

So what did she teach me?

She brought me along to every car dealership she ever went to, to show me how to negotiate.

She sat me down and showed me a newspaper, and how to follow the stock market.

She insisted I join in on meetings with lawyers and accountants.

She took me to any Broadway play she could get her hands on.

She organized my first trip to Europe.

She demonstrated how to pay bills and balance a checkbook.

She introduced me to fashion.

She made me get a job at 15.

She took me with her to Australia for a month.

She signed me up for any lesson I desired.

From Ice skating lessons at Rockefeller Center, to Pottery classes.

Swimming to skiing.

How to be charming at a dinner party.

Determined, yet diminutive.

Loud and yet low.

How to own my mistakes.

She forced me out of my comfort zone.

She actively encouraged it.

She was the one who made me apply to study abroad in Rome.

She suggested law school.

She pushed me to get a Master's Degree.

She found it a good idea to get a second Master's Degree.

She drove me. She critiqued me. She challenged me. She broke me.

She rebuilt me.

She let me fall, and didn't rush in to fix it.

She let me feel hurt.

She showed me how to help.

She had her own brand of love.

And the whole while, whether she knew it or not, she was preparing me for a life I never dreamed I could handle.

Yet here I am.

Standing.

Because of her.

And not because she taught me to be a wife, or a mother, but because she taught me to be a force to be reckoned with.

A wildling of sorts.

She taught me to embrace knowledge and talent, culture, education, and the art of being worldly.

She curated me into a fire that even with the most suppression, can not be extinguished.

Showed me how to raise some hell.

How to rise like a phoenix.

She showed me strength, grit, and determination.

She made me tough, truthful, and talented.

She had me in the company of the other women in my family, who are all fighters.

Proud boss bitches.

Fierce.

Women who, refuse to take shit and sit down, so instead, they stand up and defend their ground when they know when they are right.

So, thank You Mom.

Cheers to all the strong ladies out there!

Xoxo,

C.