Page 57 - Cindy Salas Murphy San Diego Woman Magazine
P. 57

2012: Women clean up in
        the November US elections,
        holding 20 Senate seats in                                   Life in a foster home
        January
        2013: Mary Barra is named
        the first female CEO of a ma-                                              By C. F. Illingworth
        jor automobile manufacturer
        2014: Mo'ne Davis becomes                                    I was born one spring day to a very attentive and loving
        the first girl to pitch a Little                             mother. I liked my dad a great deal, but he seemed to
        League World Series shutout                                  be tired most of the day. He spent much of his free time
        2015: Sarah Thomas becomes   Did you know there’s a          sleeping. I had two brothers and a sister. We all got
        the first woman to referee for   50,000-word novel without   along well sharing toys with each other and sleeping
        the NFL                      the letter “E”?                 together in our very cool beds. We didn’t communi-
                                                                     cate much during our family meals, and my brothers
        2016: Hillary Clinton be-    If you ever tried to even write   and my sister were a little competitive when it came
        comes the first female presi-  one sentence without using a   to food. I guess it was because there usually was not
        dential nominee              particular letter, you will great-  enough food for us to have seconds. As I grew older, I
        2017: Peggy Whiston breaks   ly appreciate this work by Er-  realized that although my mom and dad seemed to get
        the record for the most days   nest Vincent Wright back in   along ok, there were times they would disagree on little
        spent in space               1939. Gadsby is a lipogram, or   things. We lived in an area where the neighbors would
                                     a novel written without using   become very loud, and my parents would in turn shout
        2018: Saudi Arabian women    a letter or letters. In the case   at them. I also sensed that my parents occasionally felt
        earn the right to drive      of Gadsby, that letter is “E”     they had little or no control over their lives.
        2019: Deb Haaland and        Don’t believe this is possible?     One fall day, someone came to the door and all my
        Sharice Davids First Native   Check it out on Amazon.com.    toys and other belongings were gathered up and put
        American women to serve in                                   into a big box. I was then taken to a foster home in
        Congress                     Did you know you can tell       Spring Valley where I spent about two years of my life,
                                     if an egg is old based on
        2020: Fifteen-year-old sci-  whether it floats in water?     although I’m not sure exactly how long it really was. I
        entist and inventor, Gitanjali                               always wondered what caused my parents to send me
        Rao, was selected as TIME    If  you  are  sometimes unsure   away because I wasn’t all that bad or anything like that.
        magazine’s first-ever ‘Kid of   which egg is newer than the   The people who took me in were very nice and treated
        the Year’.                   other, when making those        me well. I would play outside in their large backyard
                                                                     tossing my ball around whenever I had the chance.
        2021: The AstraZeneca        scrambled eggs, there is an     There were others about my age close by who liked
                                     easy answer.  Take both eggs
        vaccine was launched due     and fill up a pot with water.     to play ball also.  My new parents would take me to
        to research from Professor   The egg that floats is the old   outdoor shows and parks where I could play with oth-
        Sarah Gilbert and a team of   one.  The egg that sinks is the   ers my age. One odd thing was that I always thought I
        amazing women at Oxford      fresher one and the perfect     was being constantly judged by my new foster parents,
        University.                  one for your breakfast meal.    but I didn’t understand why. On one of our weekend
                                                                     outings I misbehaved, not just once but several times. I
           Thank you to all the wom-  Did you know American          just couldn’t help myself.
        en who have been a part of our   men spend more time
        publication over the past 16   on leisure activities than    Not long after that a couple came to visit our home. To
        years, as well as all the women   women?                     my dismay, again my things were packed up and I had
        who have helped support our                                  to leave with strangers. It made me feel rejected, and
        cause.  Most of all thank you to   I am sure they will deny it but   it was as if they didn’t want me anymore. These new
        all the women who have read   in 2018 the U.S. Bureau of     strangers took me to their home and tried to make me
                                     Labor Statistics report found
        each issue and been there to   that each day men spent 49    feel as comfortable as they could. I felt sad for a couple
        root us along even when times   minutes more doing leisure   of weeks, but then I just accepted my fate. They have
        were their toughest.  It is true   activities than women. The   a large backyard with lots of things to do. They treated
                                                                     me well and gave me lots of attention.  I have now been
        that women support women,    study found that on average,    with them for over two years, and I think they love me. I
        we have experienced it first   men spend 5.7 hours a day     believe I have finally found my home after all. They are
        hand.                        engaged in leisure activities,   older people, but they give me loads of attention and
           Happy Women’s History     compared with 4.9 hours for     a lot of freedom. They play ball with me and they have
        Month!                       women. I guess it’s time for us   grandchildren that come to visit every few weekends.
           To learn more about the   to hit the tennis courts or the   The grandkids like to give me lots of treats. Oh, my new
        history of Women's History   golf course….or maybe just a    parents call me Bear. I think I am probably now the
        Month, please visit the Library   really good drink out with the   happiest Dog alive.
        of Congress.                 girls.

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