The Gift You Gave Us

To our mother, our savior, our matriarch. To the woman who breathed life into our family. To the woman who sacrificed her body and her love for the better of us. Your strength humbles us and inspires us to strive for better.

We have watched you pick up the pieces of your shattered heart and stitch yourself back together. You did not let your sex or your age stop you. You couldn’t. You didn’t have a choice. You had a family to support and you wouldn’t take no for an answer. This was a man’s world and you were stomping your way through it.

You lost your father to the war and never knew the love he held for you. You carried that burden until the army brought him home, seventy-two years later. You never knew his laugh or the way his eyes wrinkled when he smiled. But you loved him all the same. He became the hero of your family and you carried his memory with honor. You instilled his valor into our souls and we walk with his fire inside of us.

Your strength was tested when you started over in a time where women succumbed to the life handed to them. You took your future into your own hands and got your education. You went on to get your masters and opened your own practice. You helped everyone around you while teaching us humility.

Through it all, you moved without an ounce of malice. You fell in love with a soldier and blended your families. You moved on from your heartaches and taught us forgiveness. You taught us to walk with grace through disaster while keeping your head held high.

You are a warrior, through this life and the next. You walk on broken glass without showing any pain. You fight our demons and conquer your own. You shine your light showing us the way through the darkness. You are our beacon home.

I do not write this letter lightly. In fact, I found it quite a daunting task. How could I capture your essence through simple words? How could I describe your beauty so the reader could see what I see? How could I begin to do justice to the saint before me? How could you, my reader, understand?

I could go further in her description and paint the picture I see. But, I suppose that would be selfish of me. Why should I flood your mind with the woman that I write this for, when you, my reader, may have thought of your own warrior, your own fierce queen who you wish to thank too. May this letter to my elder be your stepping stone in thanking your own. Take my words or use your own, this is my gift to you. I will leave you with the lessons passed down to me from my mothers’ before.

Be your own strength, as my grandmother taught us. Find it within yourself to carry on. Raise your head high and wave your flag higher. You are your own hero. You are a masterpiece, just as the gods intended you to be. You do not walk lightly through this world. Let them hear you. Scream until they cannot silence you. You are lightening, my darling. You can’t be trapped in a bottle. When they try and cage you, and they will try and cage you, show them a little teeth because you, my dear, are a warrior and you will not go down without a fight.

To my queens, and the goddesses who have come before me, I thank you. And to the warriors fighting beside me, let them try and stop us.