To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before – Not Just a Willie Nelson Song

memoryKPR

4 min read

To all the girls I’ve loved before – it’s not just a Willie Nelson song, it’s not just a play on a Netflix movie, it’s my life. 

It’s my mother, my daughter, my sisters, and the uncountable number of women in my life that have protected, pushed, inspired, educated, motivated, and helped me. It is the fierce, beautiful power that I see in Women. It is the sheer unstoppable nature of a group of women with a common goal. Today I celebrate women.  

I always get a little tingly when it comes to this time of year: International Women’s Day. 

My story, the very fabric of my being, has been woven together by so many miraculous women. It almost feels like I’ve had an unfair advantage to everyone else in the world…or maybe everyone feels like this – I hope everyone feels like this.   

It started 40 some years ago when I was born to a fiercely wise and independent mother, an entrepreneur, artist, terrible athlete, and amazing role model.  I was the youngest of four girls and the last official chance for my parents to have a boy and for my sisters to have a brother. 

NO SUCH LUCK, IT’S ANOTHER GIRL. 

From my very first days I was surrounded and supported by the love of amazing women, and I believe it made me who I am.  As I grew up, I may have fought with my sisters at times, but I also always knew they would be the net that caught me if I fell flat on my face (which I did on occasion). What I learned from having all these strong women around me from birth was that women can be your safe place, your nest, and your home. They also taught me how to have strong relationships with women and how to not feel like you had to compete with them. They taught me how to not to feel you were in their shadow, but to bask in their light. 

I think this was the best lesson to leave home with, because it allowed me to be able to create strong relationships with so many brilliant, caring, and driven women. I recognize that it may not be the experience for everyone, but for me, at the center of all the bold things I have accomplished, there were strong women pushing me forward. Although naming all these strong women in a short article, may be near impossible, I do celebrate them all. I do my best, assuming they are watching.

One of the strongest women I loves, was my mom. My mom came with many lessons but my absolute favorite was, “If you don’t like it, either do something about it or accept it, whatever you do, if you aren’t going to try and make it better do not complain about it! This taught me my favorite tag line to this day – “You are in the driver’s seat of your life.” Realistically, I could write a whole year of articles about this lady. I won the mom lottery. 

Sisters – well each sister brings out a different joy and frustration in me – we are all a little the same, and we are all a little different. My sisters are my safety net, especially with both my parents gone, they are the people who have to take me in and love me, no matter what I do. 

In my career I also had many female colleagues and leaders who encouraged me to work hard and do the right things.  In my volunteer world, I was led by women who encouraged me to speak up, speak out, and have an impact. In my life, I was always been blessed by women were there to laugh with until I cried, or to cry with until I laughed. They were always by my side when good things happened, but also by my side when terrible things happened. To all the women I met by chance, 40, 30, 20, 10 years ago that still show up, help out, check in, and love me – thank you. 

This company, the most recent leap I have taken, has also been possible because of these women. Women were my first staff, my first customers, my first cheerleaders, and my first partners. To all the girls I’ve loved before, today and everyday, I celebrate you.