#NoShrinkingViolet

Photo Credit: Jennifer Lazos

When you come from a rural area, it's not uncommon to be asked "Who's your people?" pretty regularly.

For those of you concerned with my pedigree, I want to answer this once and for all:

I come from a long line of strong, willful, badass women.

My Great-Great Grandmother on my Father's side had to restart her whole life after her husband died.  She lived on the Silver Springs reservation with her husband, Joe Darlington, and her three little girls.  Upon Joe's death, she and her girls were kicked off the reservation as they were not full-blooded Seminole Indian.  She restarted her life in a dirt-floored palmetto shack in Cedar Key.

My Great-Grandma Annie was a woman before her time.  Strong, outspoken, and quick-tempered, she was quick to tell someone just what she thought of them.  If there was a cause close to her heart, she would drive around the County collecting...and don't be fooled, she wasn't above strong-arming or shaming a local politician into donating to her cause.  She famously told someone that had high-hatted her "I was the first to slap your naked ass when you were born, and I ain't afraid to whoop it now."

My Great-Grandma Lois lost her mother at an early age and was married at 14.  She had four children.  She became a widow when her youngest was 6, and had to support them all by herself.

My Granny Doris can be found at the local nursing home.  She's sweet as the day is long...but cross her, and she'll give a talkin'-to you won't soon forget.  She looks out for the underdogs, a nurturer at heart.  Loyal to a fault, if she thinks you have done something against someone she loves, you will soon catch her wrath.

My Granny Betty was one of the most loving people you could ever hope to meet.  But if you upset her, she would have you outside huntin' a peach tree switch before you could say "I'm sorry."  She married young, too, and earned her GED at the age of 59; the same year her oldest grandchild earned her High School Diploma.

My mama?  Well...my mama is a saint.  She is funny, witty, smart, sweet, and strong.  She was Valedictorian of her class.  She was the first in her family to get a college degree.  She majored in Micro-biology, not a common field among women.  She battled breast cancer with a vengeance.  When my dad was sick 18 months later?  She was the glue that held us all together.  Her strength is amazing.

If you want to know my pedigree.  That is my pedigree.  This is the blood that runs through my veins.  I am from a long line of strong, willful, sassy, outspoken, smart, revolutionary women.

I will not be quiet.  I will not cower.  I will make my voice be heard.  I am the descendent of great women.

I am no shrinking violet.