Surrounded by Greatness: Honoring the Women in My Life

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending a Hispanic women's empowerment conference. And privilege really is the right word. To be in a room filled with that kind of energy — congresswomen, journalists, leaders, dreamers — it was the kind of experience that fills you up in ways you don't fully realize until you're driving home and you just feel... different. Fuller. More grounded.

As I sat there taking it all in, my mind drifted to the women who had come with me. My sister, a judge and student legal aid advisor, who started law school as a newlywed and walked across that graduation stage pregnant with her oldest son. She didn't wait for the perfect moment, because she knew there's no such thing. She just kept going. That kind of commitment deserves to be said out loud. And my cousin, who made the bold decision to go back and get her degree while her children were young, and who became a partner in an asphalt company — originally founded by her ex-husband and his brothers — and now owns it with her son. Let that sink in for a second. The determination it takes to carve out your place, build your footing, and come out on the other side owning something? I will never stop being in awe of them.

And those were just the women sitting next to me that day.

When I think about the women in my life more broadly, I honestly don't know how I got so lucky. I have cousins who are a doctor of nursing and a perfusionist. Friends who are teachers, graphic designers, leaders in the media industry.  So many of them are mothers — some of them doing it alone, as single moms, without a net. So many of them were the first in their families to walk across a graduation stage and collect a degree. That is not a small thing. That is everything.

Some of them have faced battles with mental health that most people will never see or fully understand — and instead of letting that define them in the way the world sometimes wants it to, they channeled it. Into their work. Into helping others. Some pivoted their careers entirely to do it. Others have traveled to third world countries to provide dental hygiene services to marginalized and impoverished communities — quietly, without fanfare, just because it was the right thing to do.

They are each amazing in their own way. And I am so deeply grateful that they are in my life.

But I told you — I was saving the best for last.

My mom.

It's been almost four years since she passed, and there are still moments where that fact doesn't feel entirely real. What does feel real is everything she was. Her unwavering love for her children. Her determination to keep learning new things, no matter what stage of life she was in. Her relentless, almost stubborn commitment to family. And yes — her fashion and style, because she had it and she knew it.

This Women's Month, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you. To all the women in my life — the ones I sat next to at that conference, the ones scattered across my family tree, the friends who show up, the ones quietly changing the world in ways big and small.

You inspire me. More than you know.

With love always,

The Not So Common Gal