you ever had one of those days where you felt like nothing you did was enough? Even though you made it to your son's soccer game, cooked a tasty dinner that included everyone's favorite vegetable (all five of them), and went to three different stores in three different zip codes before finding the “must have” shoes of the century for your teenager, all you remember is that you were late to your daughter's ballet class, forgot that your son now hates broccoli, and learned from your teenager that the color shoes you bought are “so yesterday.” All you can imagine is a breaking news headline flashing on your TV screen (next to an old yearbook picture you hoped to never see again): “Arrest this woman! She did not do enough today!”
When you're having a day like that, pull out your Wonderful, Amazing, Stupendous, Inspiring, Butt-Kicking Things I've Done For My Family list so you can remember all the fabulous things you have done instead of berating yourself for all the things you should have done. Applaud yourself for the time you surprised your partner with a fabulous just-because night out (or in). Take a bow for inviting all the kids in your son's grade at his new school to a party so they would think he was cool before the first day.
You are one amazing woman. You kick butt for your family every day. Let your list be the cure any time you catch a case of not enough-itis. Instead of imagining the Not Enough Police at your door, you'll see the Get Sh*t Done Prize Patrol instead.
You are one amazing woman. You kick butt for your family every day.
Butt-Kicking Things I've Done for My Family
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A Wonderful, Amazing, Stupendous, Inspiring, Butt-Kicking Real-Life Story
When my mom, Sally, went into labor with my brother, she thought she was prepared for anything. She'd had a standard, not-horribly-long first labor with my sister, and a dramatic, barely-made-it-to-the-hospital-and-out-ofthe- elevator-before-nearly-giving-birth-in-the-hallway labor with me. Whatever baby number three had planned for her, she knew she could handle it.
She wasn't ready, however, to hear growing panic in the doctors' voices, or to have my dad whisked from the room with no explanation. She hadn't expected to deliver a son who'd need life-saving surgery the second day of his life. Nor had she expected the doctors to advise her against the procedure. “He'll ruin your lives. He'll ruin your daughters' lives. You can still have more children. You should let him die,” they said. My mom, barely able to resist her urge to slap the doctor across the face (especially impressive considering all the postpregnancy hormones zooming through her body), said, “This is my child. He's living and breathing right now. I'm going to do whatever I can to give him the best life possible.” For the past twenty-nine years, my mom has done exactly that. It's what women do, no matter what situation we're faced with.
If Women Ran the World . . . Women would always trust and value their own opinions, not just when other people are obviously wrong, inconsiderate, and stupid.
A Butt-Kicking Inspiration
When Annie Dodge Wauneka was eight years old, an influenza epidemic killed thousands of Navajos on the reservation where she lived. The mild case she contracted left her resistant to the disease, and she helped many people too sick to help themselves.
Through the years her commitment to helping others played a role in everything she did, eventually leading to her election to the Tribal Council in 1951 (she was only the second woman to achieve this feat). While she was in office, she worked to make life better for Navajo families by improving health care for pregnant mothers and babies and explaining the importance of tuberculosis vaccinations. Because of her efforts, many Navajos experienced life-saving medical practices and better living conditions.
Annie Dodge Wauneka received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and was named “The Legendary Mother of the Navajo Nation” by the Navajo Council in 1984. Recently, a book was written that details all the ways she made life better for others. It is aptly titled, I'll Go and Do More.
Check out: www.greatwomen.org
The Three Ways I Kicked Butt Today
So it's
