To women

Today is International Women’s Day.

Thank you to all the women who have helped me survive, grow, learn, fight, love, laugh, hope, cope, and appreciate the beautiful things of the world. To the women who taught me languages and why communication matters, who taught me poetry and prose. To the women who taught me by good and bad example how to behave in public, in business, in life. To the women who gutted it out during some bad time, and I know a million of you: you are all magnificent. To the women who dance and the women who watch, who write and read. To the women who reach and fail and reach again and touch the sun; and then go on to do the next thing that must be done.

I wish every woman in the world a life every bit as real, as full, as safe or risky or quiet or exciting as she herself has ever wanted. I wish that no one would ever again say “a woman can’t…” I wish that people would stop being so damn surprised when a woman they know turns out to be fully human, with all the grace and fear, potential and skill, short-sightedness and clear vision, caring and cruelty, horror and healing, cowardice and courage, and fierce yearning dreams that any human is capable of.

To the women who have enriched my life with your love, wisdom, and silly jokes; who have tended my wounds, held me while I cried, made me food, stood up for me; with whom I’ve shared books and television and movies; and secrets; who have showed me the world, and taught me that the world is just as real in my own back yard; who have believed in me fiercely, forgiven the hurt I have caused them, hauled me up short, told me hard truths; who have shown me the bright beauty of human kindness in a simple act; who have been unkind, frightened, flawed, hurtful, less than helpful, downright mean. You are all a part of me, and I love you.