Amazing Women

In honor of the beginning of Mothers' Day weekend today's post will be about some amazing women that I had the unique pleasure of spending Wednesday afternoon with.

Some churches have preachers. They preach on Sunday with a lot of fervor and then after the sermon disappear into their own little world not ministering to their flock the rest of the week. Other churches have ministers that enjoy the time going out into the world helping their flock but may not do all that well with preaching from the pulpit. Our church is really lucky to have one that embraces both. She gives great sermons and she relishes the aspect of going out in to the world to minister to her flock. She knows that my Mom has a really hard time getting around and ready for the church so she on occasion visits my Mom. Can't be easy for Janine to get around. See she is blind. She called me last week and asked if I would get her and take her to see Mom. When she called I made the blunder of the year by saying "my Mom warned me you were going to call." Oops. I immediately apologized for my poor choice of words. I think she accepted it but it was hard to tell among the laughter. Wednesday afternoon was the day we determined was the best day for both of us. One in the afternoon. I read somewhere that when a person loses one sense all their other five senses become extraordinary. To prepare for the afternoon to combat that I took two showers instead of one and was easy on the cologne. Didn't think it would be a good start the afternoon by killing our minister with body odor or the overwhelming smell of cologne. I picked her up. I really didn't know how to help, so I asked her. She told me to walk in front of her and she would hold on to me. That's what we did. I was amazed how extremely easy she got in and out of the car. We got to Mom's about a quarter after one.

There is another amazing woman. My mom. How many women in their nineties still play a mean game of Scrabble, reads for to five books a week, and still cooks with the best of them? That's mom. Another thing I admire about her is how people react to her, she must give out the air of openness because whenever we are out people flock to her. She really is kind of a babe magnet. I cannot tell you how many times we are out somewhere when someone comes up to Mom and tells her how beautiful she is. Then they are stunned when Mom tells them her age. Mom usually tells them it is because she has a damn good son. Of course I readily agree with that statement.

It was such a pleasure to watch Mom and the Minister interact. They talked about everything but very little about religion. Family, politics, love, hate, books, movies, were all in there somewhere. That's why I love the minister, not only is she an amazing woman, she didn't give a rip about religion that afternoon she just very simply wanted to get to know Mom. After the almost three hour social event of my week I took the minister back to the parsonage. I know my life had been enriched that afternoon by two amazing women.

One of the things that came out of the discussion was the mention of the book Three Cups Of Tea. That is now one of the Mothers' Day gifts that I bought for Mom. You can read about the book here:

http://www.threecupsoftea.com/about-the-book/

A couple of questions today. Any amazing women in your life? Personally, I think all the women that post and read my blog are amazing but would love to know about the women in your social circles or the women that impacted your life. In addition I would like to know if you sometimes change your behavior (like taking two showers before meeting the blind) when you are around those that have physical disabilities.

Speaking of Amazing Women here is one featured in today's Who Am I? Remember now to email your answers to williamjdahn@aol.com instead of posting them on the blog. If you are new to the blog please trust that your email address will be kept in the strictest of confidences and be used only for the purpose of the Who Am I's.

I was born in New York in 1843 and died in 1864. I was the first of nine children. My dad was town constable and I worked on his dairy farm to help support the family and help my dad who was deeply in debt. Before I was 18 I discovered that I could earn more money if I disguised myself as man. I left home to work as a coal handler on a canal boat dressed like a guy and sent most my earnings back home. I enlisted in a famous war in 1862 under a man's name and by hiding my female attributes. I served in a New York regiment. I had learned from some soldiers that I could get a $152 signing bonus and thirteen bucks a month if I enlisted in the army. Recruiters assumed I was a dude and asked me to join. I lied not only about my gender but also about my age so I could join. The description on my enlistment papers said that I was five feet tall, fair-skinned, with blue eyes. Our regiment was sent to Washington DC where we remained for nine months, defending the nation's capital against rebel advances. I wrote home saying, "I can drill as good as any man in my regiment." I wrote home to mend family fences. In thoser letters I expressed strong religious faith, the pride I felt at being a good soldier, and my strong desire to be financially independent. I was outspoken, independent, and hoped to buy a farm after the war. Our unit was later sent to Louisiana to take part in General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign. I experienced battle up close for the first time. After one famous battle I wrote of the deceased soldiers "sometimes in heaps and in rows… with distorted features, among mangled and dead horses, trampled in mud, and thrown in all conceivable sorts of places. You can distinctly hear, over the whole field, the hum and hissing of decomposition." Near the end of the Red River Campaign, drinking water became scarce, and I and my fellow soldiers drank from streams that were poisoned by the rotting flesh of dead animals. The connection between contamination and infection wasn't understood at the time. The Union soldiers were stricken by chronic diarrhea and died by the thousands. I fell sick and was admitted to the regimental hospital at Alexandria, Louisiana. When my condition worsened I was transferred again to a Federal hospital in New Orleans. By the time I reached my destination I was in the acute phase of dysentery. I died shortly after arriving. If the nurses or doctors discovered my true gender, they didn’t report it. I was buried as a soldier at the Chalmette National Cemetery in New Orleans as a male soldier. Years later my letters were discovered by a relative in the attic of the farmhouse where I grew up. They were published in 1994. It wasn't until then that the military discovered I was a woman. Who Am I?