There is one woman that I admire more than anyone else that I can think of. I call her Nana.
To you Nana may not be something special, but to me she is. She was the eldest daughter in a family when the eldest daughter took responsibility for the raising of her younger brothers and sisters. So much so all her family members call her Sis, all her nieces and nephews call her Aunty Sis. For so many years it must have seemed that she did not have her own identity.
She was a child of the depression. I think that this has had a lasting impression on her. Not necessarily a positive thing, not necessarily a negative thing... just a lasting thing.
My Nan dealt with her brothers being sent to war and not coming back the way that they left.
She then met my Pa, got married and had 4 kids. She dealt with a man who would bring strangers over for dinner without notice. She dealt with not having enough money by making do. She was a good mum. I can't say that she was a great mum because I don't know, but she did her job and she did it well. My mum, aunts and uncle are all relatively well adjusted, from my perspective at least.
My childhood was great. Nana taught me how to cook, and how to bake... She taught me how to sew, to iron, to knit and to crochet. She showed me all the things that women of her generation needed to know. She then told me that she was proud of me, that I did not have to follow her path. She confided in me, telling me that if she was my age, she would never have married and never have had children. She did not regret it, because she had 4 children, 10 grandchildren and many great grandchildren.
Then my Nan divorced my Pa after more than 40 years of marriage. She divorced him even though for many years her identity and her life was based on his. She divorced him and did what she wanted to do. It takes a lot of courage for someone of my generation to do that, I don't know where she found the strength.
I wish that I knew her more.
All I know is that she is a woman that I admire and I call her Nana.