My mom, and her mom

I never saw them as women. 

Only mothers; carers; strong - I realize now - but it was understood then

I didn't have to know it, or be conscious of it. It just was

My grandmother, always smiling and beautiful. Always cooking, and caring for her husband, children, grandchildren. 

All of the things I'm worried about now, I realize, were also worries they had.

My mother caring others, and herself, only the way she can.

And she can.

This life is not about what they got wrong and what they should be seen as having done incorrectly.

Not when those knowledge and mistakes are what I too am able to learn from. 

I have them in me. With me, no matter what.

I need to trust things that got me hear. Trusting their voices, trusting what they trusted in has built that foundation for what/who I need to be too.

I want to honor them.

I wouldn't be here without them. Without their efforts. Without their fighting. Without their learned knowledge of what is better for those that aren't them. But those that they have grown to care for.

I love them, more and more.

I love them.