What if

The heat is coming

I can already sense a difference. Three days ago, a chill winter day with a cool, wet breeze. I bundled up on the ride home but still caught chill.

Today’s a different animal. Humidity and heat peek through the hazy sky and, frisbee tucked under my arm, sweat leaking, I make my way home.

The boys run ahead, they’re trying to get a workout in. I hang back, watching the local couples strike a pose next to the lake. And I step onto my mental soapbox.

If you need a blankety-blank Day, or Blankety-blank Month, chances are you’re doing it wrong the rest of the time.

Instead of International Women’s Day, how about International Women’s Year. Decade. Century?

Men have had a long run in power, and I can’t say it’s going particularly well.

I round the bend and run into my neighbor with her daughter.

Happy IWD!

Thanks. Apparently it’s a big deal with the Vietnamese.

I instantly worry, and make a mental note to text T, T, and H with a special wish.

But if I buy into this superficial day aren’t I just enabling the entrenched patriarchy and its band-aid lip service?

I add on a pact with myself – to empower the little ones I work with to make the world better. I know it’s not the answer to systemic inequity,

but it’s a start.

So, while I’m at it.

J, Mom, sisters, grandmas (rest in peace), aunties, nieces, colleagues, bosses, mentors, teammates, friends, students, children, icons, role models. I’m so grateful for you all.

You are change makers, stalwarts, and superstars. Here’s to taking the sentiment of today and making it real, broader, better.

And permanent.