There’s this woman I know.
From a young age, she walked a slightly crooked path that was at times destructive. In time, her circuitous journey became one of focus, one of direction, one of determination. Despite the early signs of worry that filled the hearts of her parents, they eventually expressed pride in the woman she had become.
She does have her faults, this woman that I know, but the beautiful thing about her is that she’s aware of her shortcomings and she acknowledges them. She can be a forthright woman who fiercely holds onto her perceived truths. Sometimes, however, her truth is erroneous, in which case she owns up to it, expresses remorse and offers her apologies.
She can have a little theater in her, but when the situation warrants it, she can and will flip the script and glide effortlessly into serious mode.
She’s a woman of intellect. However, on occasion, her lapses in judgment straddle the line between imprudence and asinine. In the face of her decisions – whether pragmatic or flawed – she has the ability to laugh at herself. Incidentally, she laughs a lot. She’s just that kind of woman. Her anger overcomes her at times. In these moments, she knows herself better than anyone and she seeks solitude to give herself room to decompress. The words “I’m sorry” are not foreign to her lips. When she says it, she says it with the conviction of a woman who means it. And she does.
Friendships mean a lot to this woman. The links in her chain of friendship form an intimate circle. If you prick her, she’ll bleed. This is her humanity. She is the face of strength, yet her vulnerability is laid bare when betrayal disrupts her world. The tears of sadness she sheds are genuine, as are the tears of joy.
Her mantra is one of positivity, yet she sometimes falls short of her own counsel. Still, she’d rather exist in the wide open spaces of optimism over a vault of cynicism any day of the week. She doesn’t want to be defined by her successes, nor does she want to be castigated for her failures. In everything that she does, she tries. She tries hard. And she is who she is – her own person, living in the comfort of her own skin and moving through life with a fluidity that allows her to go with the flow. She is imperfect, and that’s perfectly fine with her. She loves herself. She forgives herself. She embraces herself.
Her journey through life hasn’t always been easy, but her fierce will and determination allowed her to weather the storms as they crashed upon her. When life handed her a teachable moment, she took note. When there were lessons to learn, she learned them. Many times she fell, but she always, always, got back up and pushed through. It’s what she does. It’s what she’ll always do.
I feel blessed to call this woman ‘friend.’ I admire her for the woman she is, the woman she has become, the woman she constantly strives to be.
There’s this woman I know . . . and that woman is me.
Shouldn’t we – each and every one of us – love and respect the woman that we have become? How do you honor yourself? How do you show yourself fitting admiration? Why not write your own “There’s This Woman I Know…” to celebrate the woman you are?
