As a woman in this world
As a white woman in this world 
As a white woman in this world who is a mother
NOW

As a white woman in the United States 
As a white woman in the United States who is educated 
As a white woman in the United States who is an educated mother
All I can think about are the challenges that I have had to overcome to get here.

WHO AM I TO BE SO LUCKY TO HAVE SURVIVED WHEN OTHERS DID NOT COMING FROM WHERE I DID? 

THEN 

I think about the other women
Who like me, did not make it out
So many look at me and say that it’s because I was privileged 
Maybe they are right in some fashion 

BUT I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THEIR FACES WHEN I WAS IN MY TRENCHES 
WE were all there together clawing through the mud and blood
WE were all there crying through the night, holding each other through our silent prayers
ALL OUR PRAYERS ECHOED THE SAME! 

It was the African women who braided my hair when I couldn’t wash it 
They braided in earthly mothers prayers for safety like my Aunt Nita used to do when I was little 
It was the Latino women who fed me when I was too weak to hold a spoon
They stirred and folded in their great abuelas love into the recipes to strengthen my spine and give me back my voice, just like my mamaw would for us grandbabies
It was the Asian women who hid me in the back of the restaurant when my daughter and I had nowhere to shelter from the rain and gave us fortune cookies to remind us not to lose hope in a time of crisis just like my papaw would have done 

THEN 
We were all separated by culture, customs and generations of heritage 
No chromosomes were ever shared but traumatic conditions connected us all the same
Sometimes no language was ever shared, spoken or ever understood 
Just the universal affirmation of respect and love, bonding women together in a time where no words are needed. 

I have not forgotten their faces when I was in my trenches.