Wednesday, June 8, 2016

A Historical Moment

Last night I stayed up, into the "wee hours" of this morning, with my eyes glued on to my television, to view History In The Making.

For the first time in these United States of America, my adopted country, a woman from a major political party, became a presumptive nominee for President. 

A historical event!

A milestone!

To think that merely a hundred years ago, women were not allowed to vote.
We have come a long way.
I am proud of Hillary Clinton!
I am proud for womankind! 
I am proud of being a woman!

True, this is not the first time that I witnessed History in the Making. 
Remember -
I had been through Civil Wars in China, had lived under Japanese Occupation, had lived through World War II, migrated to Hong Kong, immigrated to the U.S. . . .
In my eighty-seven years, I have "lived" a lot of History. 

When I was a little girl, my parents never said to me that I could be anyone I wanted to be, or do anything that I wanted to.
No. That was not in the cards. 
I was to be groomed to marry someone from a Good Family, by which it meant a well-to-do family. I was to be a good wife, a good daughter-in-law, and a good mother. When time came to be the lady of the house, I was to run a smooth household.

At that time, the question of what I could do with my life was not ever discussed. 
No one had asked me, "what do you want to do when you grow up?"
If anyone one did, I would not have an answer.
I lived a very sheltered life, and I was not expected to do much thinking for myself.


Circumstances did change.
I did go on and had further education. Abroad, no less.

I did end up working as a  Librarian in Hong Kong, before I got married.


However, after immigrating to the U.S., my husband, being basically very old-fashioned, said to me that he did not want me to work outside the home. He was the bread-winner and would provide for the family. I was too busy trying to learn how to be a new mother, without domestic help - a daunting job as far as I was concerned at that time. I did not think I could manage been a mother and having a career . . .

Life did change for me later. Much later.

I did have a career, as a Realtor.

I am glad I did. 


And, my daughters grew up to have careers.



So, Three cheers for Hillary!