"Where do you find the strength? We're women, honey, the strength finds us."
Wise words come from strange places sometimes. This one was from an episode of what I'm sure Bill would call a ridiculously overdramatic hospital soap, Private Practice. And he probably wouldn't be wrong, but nonetheless when I heard the quote in the episode, I leapt over a pile of toys and stuffed animals (being careful to avoid the deadly legos) to write it down in my phone. It was one of those quotes that you hear and you go "Gawd! Amazing. So true."
I'm not saying men aren't strong, but the female brand of strength is different. Maybe because we take it for granted. A text conversation that I had recently had sprung to mind. We have been dealing with a chronic ear infection with Lucia on and off for the past two months. We have tried 4 different antibiotics, including injections when both ears became infected and she started vomitting. Yesterday she stopped eating after having a good couple of days, so I had assumed she was on the mend. But when she stopped eating and napping we headed back to the doctor who gave us one last antibiotic to try and a list of Ear, Nose and Throat Doctors because we can't keep pumping her full of different antibiotics. I was still hopeful but worried as well. That night, the strongest woman I know, said "I can't imagine what you're going through." I was taken aback because I realized I hadn't even thought about it. And that's what we do, as women and especially as mothers. Is it biological, the way we just react? We do what needs to be done without thinking about it rationally. We get up 4 times a night (or more!) to feed and soothe. We nurse. We bleed. We birth. We get covered in all sorts of bodily fluids that in no way belong to us. We forgo showers. We are way too good at sweeping our fingers down our kids' throats to get whatever strange item they have decided to injest. We jump when they cry. We sacrafice without thinking about it. I thought about the night we took callie to the ER. In that moment I would have done anything to keep her from bleeding. To keep her from fear. And maybe that's where the real strength is. To adapt when everything goes sideways. So I think that quote is true. When the situation arises, the strength does indeed find us even if we never even considered it before.
