Walking a 5K; Mother's Day; Movie

Above is a digested version of my weekend. My mother, two sisters, youngest daughter, and aunt all walked the "Race for the Cure" 5K event this morning at the Gateway--it's a benefit and awareness activity for breast cancer research. We all stayed overnight at a Courtyard Marriott downtown, which gave me new insight, by the way, into the dire straits of SLC downtown--the hotel restaurant was closed for dinner Friday through Sunday nights--and that included room service. But I digress. We had a motherly-sisterly-multi-generational blast, then got up a little bleary to do the walk. I was sort of unprepared for a certain emotional hit I got from it. Lots of people--sons, daughters, sisters, husbands--were wearing little pink paper squares titled "In Memory of . . ." and "Celebrating . . ." I often secretly fault myself for not being woman-identified enough. I can get really, really irritated with some versions of feminism, the construction of some so-called female-empowered identities, etc. Today, it's clear to me that part of my irritation is really about the specific vulnerabilities of the female body (before anyone jumps, I get it that the male body has its vulnerabilities, as well).

So: I'm celebrating the lives of my women: daughters Amelia, Sophia, Abigail; my granddaughter Miriam; the daughters of my husband, Anna and Amy; my best friends Mary Sue, Ann, Kim, Jennifer, Allison, Tiffany; my gutsy mother Cherie; my sisters Erin, Lori, and Faye; my nieces Diane, Megan, Madddie, Amy, and Elisabeth; my grandmother Maxine; and my darling auntie, Sally, who has survived breast cancer for seven years.

I celebrated an early mother's day by giving my grandmother a hydrangea in full, hallucinogenic blue, and my mother an Anne Tyler novel. Who knows what tomorrow holds?

Movie Notes: a one-movie weekend, but this was a good one. Very old school, character driven film--Winter Solstice. It has a workmanlike construction. Very quiet, reticent, without flourishes or fanfare. Beautiful, restrained acting. I highly recommend this film.