In light of the enlightenment towards casting off the fallacy of a weaker sex, I hope I offer an example of the strongest and most experienced woman I know.

My mum is brilliant, but she’s a little insane. She sometimes has been criticised for being too independent, and too relaxed or liberal – often by me – but I have to concede to her the impenetrable aura of knowledge by experience, where by I listen to her – not because she is my mum, but because my mum has done everything.

She has visited many countries, and worked in many too. She has smoked, she has drank and she has ‘partied’. She’s experienced an abortion, experienced a miscarriage, she’s slept on the streets, she’s been in some of the most expensive places in Paris and New York, and also some of the worst.

She has loved guys, she has loved girls, she has cared for and been a listening ear to old people, and she has been a teacher and confidante of young people.

She was adopted, she has ran away from home, she has been a single parent, and she has stolen from charity shops so her children could have clothes, and she has gone without meals so her children could eat. She has worked illegally and worked legally.

She has been to one of the most prestigious music schools in the UK, she left it to become a nurse, she left nursing to follow a street musician, the left the musician to escape his alcoholism, found a man who turned out to be violent, found another man who turned out to have another family, she raised three boys when she could afford none.

This lady has gone from single parent with a minimum wage job, to being in a relationship with a high paying, rewarding, music teaching job. She now works when she chooses, goes on holiday when she wants, and she even has extra to help her three boys when they come calling.

There are some who will not allow their children to do anything, this is because they themselves have done nothing. My mum has allowed me to do everything, because she has done everything, and if anyone one day suggests that boy has gone far, it will only be because of her footsteps.

Post written by our guest author Calum Guthrie from England. He was an English teacher for kids and teenagers in Pekanbaru, Indonesia. Until then, he decided to leave his job for a while to travel around Asia. He’s just finished his dream as well as mission to cycle from Malaka, Malaysia to Krabi, Thailand.

 Front Picture taken from Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License “High Heels”, by user Denis Todorut flickr.com/photos/denis_todorut/5416490685/