How fitting it is that International Women’s Day falls on my mother‘s birthday this year.
My mom was one of the strongest, smartest, craziest women in the world. In today’s society, she would probably be an influencer or own a company or be a fantastic musical artist. But in her day, she was just a questionable, divorced woman with a lot of kids.
I used to think, sometimes, that my mother invented bootstraps because she was so good at pulling herself and her family up by them. She never gave up and instilled that idea in each of her children.
She taught us that we should always stick together and love each other. She was a musical artist with two different careers. One of her careers was as a singing hatcheck girl at the Mohawk Ranch in Boston. The other was as a nightclub singer named Helen Hush, the Beautiful Thrush. She was a complete beauty with a sequined red gown, platinum hair, and Bruno of Hollywood promo shot.
All that was before the seven kids.
When she met my dad, she had been married once before. The marriage ended up in annulment. However, my big brother Bart was a product of that relationship. What a wonderful gift to have a big brother. Especially one as big, smart, and strong as Barty.
She married my dad and had three more children; me and my two sisters, Georgia and Caroline.
Then she divorced and married again. She had three more children. Our modified family welcomed my twin brother and sister, Bonnie and Gene, and our youngest brother Romie.
That marriage didn’t last, and my mom found herself single with six kids (Barty had joined the Marines).
Man … she kicked ass.
When I was growing up, I was embarrassed by her sometimes. I now know that that was me being a stupid kid. What was really happening was that my mother was raising six children on her own, sending them all to Catholic school with uniforms, putting food on the table three times a day, maintaining the house, and taking care of every other little detail that a mother and a woman needs to deal with.
She was a post-war pioneer.
Of course, there were many, many other women who were pioneering the concept of singularity. My mom did this and became an example for today.
She was a woman leading her own life, making her own decisions, and she tried to improve the world by her career choices. Because of this she finally broke free of bad men.
Don’t get me wrong. Men need women and women need men. It’s a simple fact supported by millennia of behavioral science. But unfortunately many times women have been subjected to terrible behavior by men, society, and false morality, perpetrated by bad actors throughout history.
I watched my mom feel that every day. I am no longer embarrassed; I am so proud of my mother and who she was, beyond that fact … a fine, fine woman.
My dad had the opportunity to know you as a lady and felt the same way.
Women need to be who they are. They can’t be constrained by men or anything else. That’s the only way each of us will be able to reach full potential in feelings, skills, vocations, and successes. So here’s to you, Mother. I love you so much I can’t even begin to say. But it all has to do with the fact that you were my glorious mother.
