People called her Stella. It wasn’t her name, but that’s what people called her because she was a strong half-Polish woman, and I guess that’s what they saw in the character from A Streetcar Named Desire.
I watched the film a decade ago. Stella was nothing like my mom.
My mom was handy around the house — fixing our dishwasher, building shelving, installing whatever sheetrock or appliances or new hardware she wanted. My dad was basically banished from the workshop in our basement. She ruled the roost and all the power tools therein.
She was crafty as heck. She was so creative and artistic and always working on something. Redecorating the kitchen, not with prefabricated bullshit from Pier 1, but with things she made with her own creativity and two hands. Or there was the year she sold a bunch of little Santas at a craft fair after cutting them with her own jigsaw and painting them with cute, approachable faces.
My entire life, I knew my mom was special. I knew I was lucky because she made spaghetti and pumpkin pie for my birthday, just like I always hoped. I knew I was lucky because she was the fun Girl Scout troop leader, and all the girls told me so. I knew I was lucky because she came to all my sporting games and yelled louder than all the other parents. And she yelled for everyone, not just me. She was just so happy and so proud that all these kids were playing so hard.
I know it’s probably cliché to say that the woman who had an impact on you is your mom. But if I thought for months on end, I would come up with the same answer I had in the first instant this Wonder Woman concept was pitched.
My mom’s given name wasn’t Stella. It was Deborah, but she preferred writing it as deb. — all lowercase and with a period at the end — while plenty of people called her Debbie, Aunt Debbie, or Mom.
And even without a golden lasso, that lady could do anything. |THIS.
[By Kelaine Conochan]
Kelaine Conochan is the editor-in-chief of The Prompt Mag, a creative writer, ultrarunner, and gym class overachiever who resides in Washington, D.C.
THISENT.com has teamed with ThePromptMag.com to celebrate Women’s History Month by honoring a “Wonder Woman” that has impacted our lives.
