International Women's Day

March 8^th marks the celebration of women in much of Easter Europe.  The holiday emerged during the 1900’s, in various locations, and was closely tied to the recognition of women’s rights.  For some countries International Women’s Day is still closely tied to political issues, and for others it’s looked upon as a day to celebrate women of the past and women living in the present regardless of their religious, political, economic, and marital status. As a society, and as women, we should celebrate our right to choose who we want to be and what we want to do with our lives. To read more on the history of this day  click here. 

 

In North America this is not a wildly celebrated day, apart from probably people who have immigrated here and brought it over with them.  I grew up in Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus I have celebrated this day as long as I can remember.  I don’t ever recall celebrating this day in an elaborate way, that’s not really the point, but my dad always bought flowers for my mom and his mom.  When we immigrated to Canada many years ago, we choose to change, adapt and adopt many traditional celebrations.  March 8^th has stayed consistently important to our family and we have always celebrated it in some small way.  

 

As I become an adult, my parents also passed this tradition on to me by presenting me with flowers each year.  I don’t remember the first time that they gave me flowers for March 8^th but I know that it felt special. I am so fortunate to have a husband, who didn’t grow up with this tradition, who takes the time to celebrate me in this special way and is teaching our girls about it, by including them in the process and talking to them about it.  Each year my husband has flowers delivered for me from the same flower shop, I think he has a standing order there, LOL.  Logan and I generally do not buy each other extravagant gifts but I truly appreciate that once a year I receive a beautiful flower arrangement to celebrate the woman that I am including, mother, wife, friend, sportsperson, strong, intelligent, career-orientated, extrovert, task/to-do list master, women that I am.  

 

This year we took out my parents, my grandma, and our whole family out for dinner.  A few years ago I decided to start including my girls in on our lunch/dinner dates on this day because I hope to pass on the meaning of this day on to them.  Of course there were key people missing from our little crowd such as my sister and my other grandmother, but we hope they had a special day with their loved ones. 

What's dinner out without some goofiness from the kids.   

 

I dropped off some flowers for my best friend Amber on March 8th.  Amber and I met in Waskesiu when I was 15 years old and she has been one of my closest friends since.  She is a mother of two and  7 months pregnant with her third, a wife, a fun-loving, adventure seeking individual, extremely intelligent, an entrepreneur (just purchased her business), loves home decor, yoga and being out on the water.  I am glad to have her in my life as a support and someone who I can depend on to tell me the truth and tell it to me straight. 

 

All you lovely ladies, take time to celebrate yourself and all your accomplishments.