MOM, LIFE, THE GLASS CEILING: America's Story

Oh how the years have flown by. It just doesn't seem like twenty years have gone by since Mom died, Sept. 2, 2004. Her funeral service was held in the little Cajun town of Abbeville, on Sept. 5. For many years I had written about my life with Mom in the Cajun area during the depressed years and the hard times we faced just trying to survive.

For a decade I had chronicled her life as a victim of Alzheimer's disease. At that same time President Ronald Reagan was suffering through the same disease so there was much being written about it. Mom didn't react to the disease according to what I was reading. She remained good natured, positive, never complaining. When asked, she was always "okay" and flashed that cute little smile.

In a fatherless home, during the depression years, life in our little shack often had little or no food to eat. After a hard day of picking cotton in the fields thankfully there was always Mom. She earned money as a wash lady; often she ironed clothes way into the night with a Sad iron. During those difficult days, Mom and I bonded into a relationship beyond the normal. We relied on each other against a cruel existence.

Even then, despite the hardships, Mom's good natured antics remained constant and carried on through her illness. Since Mom's death, her two sisters have passed away. Eve was 105 and Annie Mae, 88. I've also lost many friends over the span of the last 20 years. I also feel much older and in fact am 20 years older. Mom's death is the hardest blow I've had to endure. I still miss her each day. I wish her great-great-grandkids, who came along since her passing, would have gotten to know her.

Mom came along in the early stages of women's right to vote. Her first vote was cast for F.D.R. Her years were mostly spent in a country run by men. There were no female judges, lawyers, doctors, bankers, or in government. "Rosie the Riveter, earned only 60% of what her male counterparts did doing the same job. Mom always took seriously the right to vote. Even though there was very little communication compared to today in politics, she, to my surprise, was always aware of the issues. She believed Eleanor Roosevelt was the brains behind the president.

We had often spoke about a woman president. "Not in our lifetime Mom," I would say. I had told her there was a better chance that a Black man would be elected before a woman. She died before Obama came along. I believed there probably would not be a woman president in my lifetime but then Hillary Clinton was nominated by the Democratic Party. She was one of the most qualified people to run for president. Others were George H. Bush, Al Gore and Joe Biden. Hillary had been First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States for two terms and many believed the brains behind President Bill Clinton. She served as a U.S. Senator and Secretary of State under Obama. She ran for president against Donald Trump, who had no government experience. She won the popular vote but lost a close electoral election. After her loss I was almost certain there would never be a female president in my lifetime. The odds changed when President Joe Biden gave up a second term and endorsed his vice-president, Kamala Harris, a person I had predicted years ago could someday be president. She is running against former president Donald Trump who had beaten Hillary.

Harris has a good shot but still is the underdog because she is a woman. She has better odds than most female candidates because many of the votes won't be for her but against Trump. I beat the odds by still being here and come November, in my 90th year, I may have lived to see history made. No doubt Harris is qualified to be a good president but don't bet on her being elected. It's the woman thing. But a lot of things have changed for women in our lifetime so maybe now the "Glass Ceiling" Hillary talked about might finally be broken. What a great day that would be for Mom and other women of her generation who had to take a back seat to men despite qualifications. I can only imagine that cute little smile on Mom's face. Only 20 years after her death, in my 90th year, even though much progress has been made, history will record that in the year 2024, 237 years after George Washington, the first female was elected president of the United States of America and I would have seen it happen in my lifetime. "Madam President." Well, in America at least it's possible. (comments: [email protected])