I am definitely feeling like a tired little gray wren tonight; I have been dealing with the unpleasant effects of the flu and my energy level and my spirits are definitely low. So it was a very pleasant surprise when I clicked on a YouTube link sent to me by the daughter of my heart. (I am very blessed to have 3 very special daughters: one of my blood - my firstborn; one by marriage to my husband; and one of my heart who has been a special light in my life for about 15 years now.)
This link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q ) took me to a speech written by author Kelly Corrigan and reflected her thoughts about women of special strength. It focused on the strength we draw from our friends; our sisters in life's experiences and how we are able to get through the roughest parts of life because of the love and support of these women as well as how these friendships endure throughout one' life. When the video was finished I sat quietly for a couple of minutes and reflected upon the women in my life.
I am by nature a very solitary bird, one who does not tend to be part of a flock. And yet I need "sisters" in my life to draw upon, but who exactly are these women of strength? I have a wonderful husband/friend, good friends at work, and good friends outside of work, but who exactly are the women to whom I turn when life is at its worst or to who do I turn when I want to share certain special moments in my life? At that moment a memory flashed before me from the recent family vacation that had just occurred. And I saw my three beautiful daughters and myself sitting in the hotel room one night, sipping wine or whatever, and laughing until we had tears in our eyes, sharing personal experiences of childbirth, motherhood, womanhood. I realized that these three wonderful women were the special women of strength in my life. We have shared laughter, illness, births of children, loss of loved ones, job promotions, loss of jobs, success in our careers and families as well as failures, marriages, and divorces. I could not ask for better sisters to go through life with. Our daily lives are very different; we follow different life-paths and our ages put us at different life-phases, but when it comes to the things that really matter most in life we are there for each other. While our friendships came about because of the ties of family it is not simply family ties that bind us. Rather it is understanding (and laughing about, and crying about) the shared experiences of simply being a woman. I am truely blessed to know these women of strength.
No matter how tired my wings may get I know I have only to call upon one of my sisters and I will be lifted up into a better place.
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I'm a great believer that there is value in relationships with men (or women, in your case) that can take place in a larger context but have a space that member of the same sex relate in. Often times I've taken refuge in Uisdean Ruadh because there times when as a man, you can just x "It's this" and no other words are necessary to express the pain or joy or whatever, because as a man, he gets it.
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