A few years ago, I went with my brother Tom and sister-in-law Suzanne to see Minnesota's then brand-new Lynx team play basketball. (The Lynx are Minnesota's WNBA team.) Jose and I didn't have kids yet, but I always knew I'd have little girls--whether they were mine through biology or adoption. (That is not to say that a little boy would not have been equally adored and fussed over, but so far that is not to be.) So when I saw the Lynx charge out onto the shiny, professional-grade floor with their professional-grade uniforms and professional-grade basketballs, I did something really embarrassing. I started to cry.
Not the big, weepy ugly cry, but I definitely choked up. Tom and Suzanne asked what was up, and I told them, while fanning my face and trying NOT to explode into a loud, sloppy mess, that when I was a little girl, I'd always dreamed of being good enough at basketball to be a professional. But I knew that even if I had been awesome at b-ball, that dream was not to be--there were no professional women's basketball teams. And here, 15-20 years later, I was sitting in a stadium watching part of that dream come true. My daughters, if they had the talent and the desire, could be professional sports players, because these women had broken down the barriers.
That's about the point where Tom started making fun of me.
And, as it was, any talent I had was strictly limited to WRITING about basketball, because I pretty much looked like I was seizing up when I played it. Ergo, I gave up on the sport altogether before I even hit high school. But you know, just knowing the possibility was there would have struck me as all kinds of awesome.
So today, I'm having a similar moment watching clips of Nancy Pelosi take her place as the first female Speaker of the House. No matter where your politics lie, today has a significance that transcends party lines: Our daughters, if they have the talent and desire, can now more easily aspire to be House Speaker, because that door has now been opened. As Pelosi herself said, "This is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years. For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters now, the sky is the limit."
Anyone have a Kleenex?
About Me
- Tracy Montoya
- Tracy Montoya writes romantic suspense for Harlequin Intrigue.
2 comments:
I can totally relate, Tracy. Alaska elected its first female governor this election, and despite the fact she's a Republican, I'm rooting for her : )
Our children will have so much more in the ways of opportunities. It's our job as parents to make sure they are aware of them, that they are prepared to reach for anything they want to achieve.
Cool, Cathy! And we do have to remind our daughters, because otherwise things start backsliding and you end up with a bunch of women in skimpy dresses caressing briefcases on a game show....
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