It has been my great fortune to have had the opportunity to work alongside some of the most incredible women. Their strength has inspired me, their calm and cool has soothed me, and their brilliance has dazzled and educated me.

We dump so much on them, while the average man would crumble under the weight of such expectation. Yet they get on with life, carrying us most of the way. They do it without thanks, recognition or equal compensation.

• Is it repayment for the rib?
  That debt has been repaid a billion times over.
• Is it because we had them convinced they were the weaker sex?
  The best defense is a good offense.

I think it is because women get it. They can and we can’t. So they do and do and do. Don’t be fooled… women do this at a cost to their well-being. On an occasional Saturday, I would visit our clothing store. Suddenly one of our clients would rush in, explaining that they had seconds, not minutes, to make their purchase because their husbands or children or parents or in-laws were waiting impatiently for them. The stress they carried would go right through me. And I was only an observer and did not have to live in their skin every stressful day. Don’t let the exceptional “princess” that goes from yoga, to massage, to lunch with the girls, fool you. They are not the rule, but it makes us feel better about ourselves to believe they are.

I am in awe of you and needed to finally say it.

I am grateful to you and hope that I can bring to your world a fraction of the beauty and strength that you have brought to mine.

Happy Mother’s Day!