• Made tiny homemade clothes for my Barbie
• Let me climb in bed with her when I had a nightmare
• Came to all of my basketball games (even when I didn’t play much)
• Allowed me to borrow her makeup
• Supported the horse habit of me, my sister, and my dad (we were horse crazy and often knee deep in horse manure). She even washed our smelly clothes.
• Made me homemade chocolate meringue pies for my birthday
• Cooked for my goofy teenage guy friends (who ate a lot!)
• Got up early and cooked a hot, homemade breakfast for us almost every day of her life
• Baked homemade blackberry pies for my first boyfriend and supported my white lie that I was the actual baker (this paid off–the boyfriend married me!)
• Still tries to give me money and gifts even though she has very little money and lives in a senior apartment
• She is still my number one fan, cheerleader, and supporter. I love you, Mom!

I bet your mom is amazing, too! Or perhaps it’s your grandmother, an aunt, or another older woman who has poured herself into your life.

GIVEAWAY: Please share one or two ways your mother or grandmother is amazing in the comments below (or on Facebook)….and I’ll do a drawing and send along a copy of So Long Status Quo, my book on amazing women, to both you AND your mom! All you have to do is leave a comment.

AND….A Special Mother’s Day Offer:

Buy your mom a copy of So Long Status Quo, my book on 9 amazing women who changed the world, and I’ll give your mom a call to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day!

If your mom is an amazing woman (and I'm betting that she is), she might enjoy reading about some of the amazing women in So Long Status Quo.

When I started this journey, I though somehow that the amazing women of history I wanted to write about would be just like Wonder Woman; a perfect blend of power, beauty, and niceness. But they were not … the women who changed the world were just like you and me. Real. Flawed. Broken.

Join me on a journey to meet these women. And, in turn, discover what you have in common with the women who changed the world. You might be surprised!

For more, read Susy’s story “I’ve Got Something Wonder Woman Doesn’t” in Kyria.com, a new digital mag by the folks at Christianity Today.

WHO THE MEEK ARE NOT

Not the bristle-bearded Igors bent
under burlap sacks, not peasants knee-deep
in the rice paddy muck,
nor the serfs whose quarter-moon sickles
make the wheat fall in waves
they don’t get to eat. My friend the Franciscan
nun says we misread
that word “meek” in the Bible verse that blesses them.
To understand the meek
(she says) picture a great stallion at full gallop
in a meadow, who —
at his master’s voice — sizes up to a stunned
but instant halt.
So with the strain of holding that great power
in check, the muscles
along the arched neck keep eddying,
and only the velvet ears
prick forward, awaiting the next order.

Mary Karr is an award-winning poet and best-selling memoirist. She is the author of Lit, the long-awaited sequel to her critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling memoirs The Liars’ Club and Cherry. A born raconteur, she brings to her lectures and talks the same wit, irreverence, joy, and sorrow found in her poetry and prose. A sought-after speaker, Karr has given distinguished talks at prestigious universities, libraries, and writers’ festivals, including Harvard University, Oxford University, Princeton University, Brown University, Syracuse University (“On Salmon Rushdie” with Salmon Rushdie), the New York Public Library, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Folger Library (Poetry Society of America/Emily Dickinson Lecture), The New Yorker Literary Festival, PEN/Faulkner, and the Festival of Faith and Writing. Karr welcomes conversation with her audience and she is known for her spirited, lively, and engaging Q&A sessions.

I loved my comfy couch, and my safe life, for a long time. But at some point it became like a trap, like a safe warm cocoon that I couldn’t break out of.

Do you remember when you were a kid and you longed for summer vacation? During those long hot days of school just before break you dream about summer and can’t wait for school to be over so you can sleep in, play with friends, relax, and enjoy yourself. Then summer comes, and it’s wonderful, and you get to do those things you were dreaming about, but after a while it goes on too long.

You get bored, and there isn’t much of a routine or purpose to your days, and all of a sudden you can’t wait for school to start again. Do you remember that feeling? That was my safe-on-the-couch life. I yearned for something more. I was ready for an adventure.

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged regularly. I used to be over on Typepad, with a blog called Unmasking the Goddess: A Christ Follower Looks Into Goddess Spirituality. I blogged actively for a couple of years, and met some amazing people along the way. Now it’s time to get back to blogging. This time, I’ll be writing about amazing women who changed the world, both past and present.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but when I was in school I didn’t get to study much in the way of women’s history. But now’s my chance to get to know these women, and I’m going for it. And you’re invited to join me.

And if you have any suggestions for women who changed the world, or women changing the world, I’d love to hear them.