Happy International Women's Day!

When I was little, International Women’s Day was a very serious celebration in Europe.  Boys came to school with flowers for girls, husbands gave wives bouquets of carnations, and often, women even gave each other cards.  I never really understood what the day meant, or what we did to deserve this kind of attention, but back then, it was just as important as Christmas.  In honor of today, and of just how lovely girls are, I thought I’d write about the people and things that have come to mean, to me, what it is to be a great woman.

Not that. That is a robot. That is not a real woman.

This weekend, one of my girlfriends had a pyjama party and, because she is the coolest girl ever, she got make-your-own pizzas ready (complete with ingredients like duck and soft-ripened mozzarella!), as well as paint-your-own wine glasses!  You know what’s really amazing? When a person cares. I’ve always been eternally touched by someone who goes that extra mile to make other people feel special, and these girls, well, they’re fantastic.

After the pyjama party, I headed over to another girlfriend’s birthday party, where I met a girl who, at the age of 30, already sold two businesses to finance several income properties, and now works as a business  start-up consultant.  Talking to her, I actually felt my heart race. Part girl-crushing, and partly filled with sheer admiration to be in the presence of such a stunning powerhouse, I was absolutely floored.  The birthday girl looked stunning as always, and rocked gold sequin pants, so really,  the entire night just blasted girl power. And I, in turn, was once again very cool and hip when interacting with members of the opposite sex:  “When you kill an animal in the wild, you have about 5 minutes to eat it before it goes rancid!”  Words I heard myself speaking before I could stop myself. So, I’ve come to accept the fact that I will never know the right things to say, and that acceptance in itself is actually pretty empowering.  I used to facepalm myself almost instantly after hearing this junk come out of my mouth, but I’m happy to say that now, I just quickly look away, gag super quick, and turn back to continue the convo, swiftly moving on. #fakeittilyoumakeit

My mom is another person whom I find hilariously cool.  She is the epitome of kindness, selflessness, and the definition of not giving a fak.  Every morning she scrapes the last bit of change out of her wallet to give to “the homeless guy with the Pomeranian”, regularly emails a CBC news reporter to see how he’s handling his divorce, and here, she is running after a person in a wheelchair at Walmart to fix their dangling cord:

 
She used to tell me: "Never be afraid of people laughing at you." and I am reminded of that every day by the inevitability of having to learn its very lesson.
When I get caught up in the lame drama of life (“How can almond milk not be on sale? They SAID it was! I mean I just can’t wrap my mind around how they could say that and then not follow through. I’m gonna go talk to the president of the grocery index industry! I’m writing to NASA, that’s it..”) my mom will call me screaming and laughing: “There is a fox running on my fence!” She really, really cares about and loves the little things in life, and it really doesn’t take much to make her laugh, so people tend to gravitate towards her wherever she goes.

Another super cool chick is my sister Val (permanently renamed Milhouse).  When she was nine, she had a guild of followers on Neopets. When she was 12, she already knew more about history than me, and now, at 18, I think her grade point average is like 150%.  She does her own thing, isn’t negatively influenced or peer pressured by anyone (unless you count Swedish diplomats), and loves Japanese death jazz. Oh, and she also happens to be the ultimate funniest person I know.

Sometimes she just talks...

And sometimes we pretend we're middle aged women trying to pass for university students (while standing in line for free Indian curry)

And sometimes we get crunk...

And did I mention she's insanely talented and cool? Ugh..

Ah, Milhouse.

These are just a few examples of the amazing women I am honored to have in my life.  If you take the time to understand someone, you can find something unique and worth admiring in them, and in that way, the world becomes a collage of beauty.  Nobody is perfect, but everyone has a really cool piece to add to the picture, and the picture looks sort of like this:

Beauty is a flower that grows without comparing itself to other flowers, and that’s an idea I love to live by.  The type of woman I admire is one who is kind, hilarious, and smart yet unpretentious, and if I ever meet her, more than anything, I would just love to be her friend.  These women are hard to come by, but when you find one, you really understand what today is all about.