In honor of Women’s History Month, let me tell you about two women in my life who have taught me strength, compassion, vulnerability, confidence, and so much more. The first woman is my biggest role model, and quite literally I would not exist without her. My mom, Breda Loganadhan is the strongest woman I have ever met in my entire life. She genuinely has been thrown so many hurdles, yet she has never allowed them to stop her or has it impaired her love for me or anyone else in her life. Growing up, I was always inspired by her bravery to immigrate to the US at the age of 21 by herself knowing no one there. It always inspired me to want to travel the world and spread my wings, something she has engraved in me from a young age, and she instilled the confidence to believe I can do that. I think I never would have felt confident enough to go to school in New York knowing no one and being in another country than all my friends and family had she not instilled that confidence. When she moved to the States, she worked multiple jobs to pay her way through night school. This taught me to be hardworking, this has also always made me so grateful for how privileged I am now, that I can go to a good college, and not have to worry about working a job to pay for my education myself. This past year, in particular, my mom has taught me strength, bravery, and true love. My dad unfortunately has been in the hospital since April, and my mom has never left his side. Despite how difficult it is for her, she has advocated for my father continuously, even standing up for herself against doctors who did not always have my dad’s best interests at heart, all while continuing to support my brother and my struggling mental health dealing with the repercussions of my dad in the hospital. She continued to push me to live my life to the fullest, she pushed me to continue with my study abroad plans that May. She had to put her entire life on hold last April to care for my dad, she never complained and she made sure that my brother and my life remained as normal as possible. I quite literally cannot express how much I look up to her, and how lucky I feel to be her daughter.
The second woman in my life, that has inspired me from a young age is Marilyn Pierce. Marilyn met my mom early in my mom’s immigration story when she first worked at Cape Cod and adopted my mom into her family. Since then, Marilyn has been a grandmother figure to me my entire life, which was so special to me. My maternal grandmother was sick most of my life and lived in Ireland, so I never had those quintessential memories people had with their grandmother. I never got to bake cookies with her, never got to bring her to grandmother’s day at school, and never really got her stories about her past adventures. But, Marilyn served that role for me, especially when my grandmother passed away when I was 9, I still had someone in my life that I could see as my grandmother. I love my memories in Cape Cod with her, her teaching me how to paddle board, baking cakes with her, and our morning walks on the boardwalk. She also taught me about perseverance, and how to keep a positive mindset. Before my time, Marilyn’s husband Bill Pierce suffered a stroke, and he needed to relearn how to speak, walk, and eat. Marilyn stood by his side and helped reteach him everything. She walked through life with the mindset to “Never give up”, each summer when I visited Bill and Marilyn, I was reminded of this mindset. It taught me determination and to not give up when the going gets tough. She also taught me how to remain positive, no matter what hurdles were thrown her way, she was always optimistic, and willing to look at the glass half full. I aspire to be even half the woman she is one day.