Let's celebrate the women who are ordinary - who have touched our spirits deeply

Mother's Day is coming. But before it does, let's take a sideways glance of affection at all those "minor players" - the women who in small but significant ways have shaped us spiritually. Lots of folks praise the known women of the world -- what I hope we can do here together is to claim honors for the women who inspired us as we went along our life's journey...the mothers-of-our-souls.

Who helped you see yourself as part of something more?

Who helped you see the world in special ways?

Who helped shaped your ethics, your world view?

What ordinary women inspired your passion for justice?

We spend a lot of time holding up women who are well-known. Today I want us to celebrate the everyday saints -- to sing the praises of the unsung.

Here is my list -- please add yours and we can all hold up these women together.

Leona - my best friend's mom who was like my 2nd mom. She made me read the biography of Margaret Sanger (abortion advocate) when I was 14, and she taught me to ride a 2-wheeler bike. Leona was the most fearless woman I had met up to that point. I loved her a lot.

Barbara - my high school English teacher who stayed around to be my friend. She took in a fellow high school student who had alcoholic parents, and he became a part of her family. Her farm house was alwys chock full of the high school's more Bohemian students -- either reading poetry or playing word games. We all felt accepted and understood there. She died 2 weeks after my own Mom. I was wordless with grief.

Anna - my German teacher who had always wanted to be a nun, but stayed out of the convent to care for her ailing father and mother. In poignant ways she consciously taught me to seize the day.

Jesse - a Native American/Hispanic woman who worked as a cook in the restaurant where I waitressed for one year in college.She was a fierce advocate of family, and family was anyone she loved. I was lucky enough to be part of her brood. I still have the plastic Virgin Mary statue that she gave me when I needed to go to the hospital for surgery 30 years ago. She gave more than she could all the time, and always had some left over. She was a walking lesson in abundant love.

MaryJo -- who is now fighting her 4th recurrence of lymph/breast cancer. She keeps doing the meds and praying her way through it all. She owns her pain, owns her fear and keeps on keeping on. For those of you who pray, please pray for her.

Jania - my confirmation godmother -- a little sparrow of a woman who just plain loved me without exception. She loved with such ease, such graceful fluidity. It was impossible to imagine her as anything but holy in the quietest of ways, something she would vigorously deny.

I think it matters to hold up all our spiritual mothers (whether they are older or younger than we) for praise and thanks and to give them public honors for the good they have done. There are crowds of such women in our world, millions of everyday heroines who make our lives better. Maybe they are not Marie Curie or Sojourner Truth or Mother Teresa or any other woman we can all name. But they matter with a collective force of goodness that makes the planet habitable and kind and wise and compassionate.

Related Blogs from a slightly different angle:

Becoming tells a fun tale of a spiritual lesson learned from her 6 year old daughter.

Stacy got a surprising lesson of the spirit via an email from a perfect stranger, a mother of four children.

Julie at Time Is a Moment learns a big life lesson only three words long to carry forward from a 2 and a half year old.

Submitted by Mata H (view blog

) on Sat, 04/26/2008 - 19:03

Posted In

Comments (8)

Tell a Friend

Comments

In the Everyday Moments

Whenever there is someone on the news for a rare and miraculous deed, I think that what is more important are the every day, unseen choices people make like committing to your marriage even when it is really hard, being patient with your kids when they are making you crazy or taking the time to do something for others when your own life is so busy.

My thoughts today aren't for specific Moms, but for all the Moms that do this in everyday life without being interviewed as a hero on the 5 o'clock news.

Carol Marie Ramsey
Finding balance and peace in parenting at Graceful Parenting

Submitted by Graceful Parenting on Sat, 04/26/2008 - 17:05

carol --

So true -- among us all can be found acts of personal heroism, actions that keep the fabric of life from coming unraveled - and real praise is due for the unsung.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs at Time's Fool

Submitted by Mata H on Sun, 04/27/2008 - 15:35

What an interesting exercise!

My sister would count as a player in my life. Once past the years of sibling contrariness, she has always been there for me. Older sisters are simply priceless.

There would be one nun from the eighth grade, and embarrassingly her name has long since escaped me... but she certainly played a role in my passion for change and overcoming social issues.

There was Anjude, a current events teacher in senior year. Someone who gave us a forum, a place where we expressed our views, unhindered.

Dr B, my first year of college - my first lessons in feminism, she was the spark that has stayed with me to this day.

Joan M, from whom I learned to save the work struggles for the really important issues, not every issue.

Toni F, giving a shit about your employees is a beautiful thing. Under 5', but she stands 8 feet tall in my book.

Those I've met through cyberspace, then in reality...

Someone who 'occasionally' *cough* hangs around these parts... it's ok to be who you are, stop hiding from yourself, stop hiding from the truth, stop hiding the truth. And dammit, she is a telepath.

INW, who's own courage to stand proud also shoved me further down the coming out pathway.

MB, who woke my spiritual world, an increasingly important part of me. Not to mention something as simple as teaching to walk away from anger. And eerily, no one comes closer to my outlook on life and on the world.

Finally, met in cyberspace, never in reality...

Lydia, who forced me to face leftover baggage of my Catholic
upbringing. Yes nelle, some of us do believe in goddess. Sue Monk Kidd
picked up where she left off, but it was Lydia who first got me to look
past the ingrained lessons of another time.

nelle

Submitted by nelle2nelle on Sun, 04/27/2008 - 17:38

what a super list

Youare surrounded by heroines! It's great that you are holding them up to the light.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs relentlessly at Time's Fool

Submitted by Mata H on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 13:20

too many to count?

there were two teachers at high school (biology and history). together they set the tone for my ongoing self-education. and my wending path through 'career'.

one friend from primary school, and two from work, with whom being geeky, intelligent, opinionated and interested in word games makes me exhilarated, not apologetic. they know more stupid facts than me.

my sisters. who remember who i am, when i forget, or am lost under something else.

my god mother - for the gentle reminders that family is there. and the best lived-in relationship advice. she lives it.

Submitted by kazari on Mon, 04/28/2008 - 19:49

kazari, thanks!

You are surely awash in blessings there ....thanks for introducing us to your heroines.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs relentlessly at Time's Fool

Submitted by Mata H on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 13:22

Thank You

Because I don't like to celebrate these 'card' holidays, I have often thought of the women who influenced me in some way...many famous characters, like Rhoda or Mary Tyler Moore or even Lucille Ball. But, it's true, it's your 4th Grade Teacher for making learning fun, it was my mom's feminist friend, the incredibly skilled soccer coaches, my best friends' mother for just letting it all hang out, my wise, witty & weird best girlfriend for always being true to herself, and my grandmother for having the guts to globetrot -- well before the divorce!

And, each year, I now pay a tribute on mother's day to all my single-mom friends. These are the ones who chose to have or adopt on their own. They are my true inspiration. How these courageous souls manage to juggle the careers and the kids and still have time to laugh, travel and take on the world is beyond me.

And finally, I start my day each day with a picture of two Bangladeshi women, huddling in the torrential rain underneath an umbrella. It puts it all back in perspective because I know, when the rain passes, they'll somehow manage to pick up their produce, walk to what they call home, and carry on preparing the family meal.

francesca maggi

burntbythetuscansun

Submitted by fmaggi on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 16:04