The Definition of Woman
When asked- what is a woman? My mind is immediately scrambled with nice adjectives to describe women. I think of words like smart, talented, caring, and lovely. Despite these accurate adjectives, when I ponder which woman would be the best example of what a woman is, I think of Anna Jarvis. No one will ever compare to her. Anna was my best friend. She was intelligent, compassionate, and strong. She was everything I want to be as a woman. When I think of someone who could encapsulate what being a woman means with just her sheer existence, I think of her.
Anna was a family woman. She took care of her two children alone. She would work day and night with blistered feet to make sure her children were happy and fed. Anna’s line of work was director of sales and catering in hotels. Through her line of work, she met countless people and would plan parties and weddings for them. She told me that people would come to her with their dream event or party and she would make it come to life with centerpieces, flowers, drinks, dance floors, and banquet tables. Out of all the events that she has told me about, the most impressive event that she planned was the Kentucky Derby and Thunder Over Louisville event because she was gifted a huge gold horse head centerpiece for her hard work. Though she met so many amazing people, she also ran into plenty of hateful people too. She was fired and laid off many times when the people she worked with would find out that her two babies were black. Regardless, she was never ashamed of her children. Anna was also an outstanding chef. Her jellies and jams were heaven in a mason jar; she called them JOY, Jars of Yum. Anytime I was lonely or depressed, she would bake me a cake and keep me company.
Anna also endured homelessness, abuse, hunger, and loss. Despite having to go through these things she remained optimistic, and she always found solutions. Anna rarely took “No” for an answer. She was the most resilient person I ever knew. Anna was also extremely generous and caring. She would help whoever she could with whatever she had. Though she went to church and was a devoted Christian, she did not like to give her tithe to her church. She always felt like it was more useful if she gave it to a random person to pay for gas or food. When she did not have money for tithe, she volunteered for her church that had an outreach program for homeless people to have somewhere to stay and something to eat. She would cook at the church and even set up arrangements at her hotel to house some of the homeless. Anything she had, she was willing to share.
Anna also had a beautiful wardrobe of clothes. She had fur coats and capes, ball gownsand cocktail dresses, and even business suits and house dresses. She took care of her skin with creams and face masks. She invested in lovely perfumes and lotions. She kept her eyebrows waxed, her hair trimmed, and her nails painted. She believed in pampering herself and even had specific days of the week that she would take the time to do so. She would always say that pampering days were just important as laundry days.
Anna is what I like to think of when I think of the word woman. She was everything that the word connotatively means. She was strong, compassionate, fabulous, hilarious, and beautiful. She sacrificed for her family in every way possible, and she did all of it with a little mischievous grin on her face. She successfully taught me what a woman was before she passed. She was my mom, my friend, and most importantly of all, an absolutely admirable woman.
