We are the women we are because you were Dr. Maya Angelou

Over the weekend I watched the Memorial Service for Dr. Maya Angelou and was moved to tears on several occasions by the people who spoke about this phenomenal woman. About how graciously and courageously she lived her life. About how she defied the odds and did what she wanted as a person – not allowing the limitations of other people’s beliefs about the roles she was supposed to play stop her from being the person she asked to come here to be. Not accepting that because she was a woman and a black woman at that that she was supposed to be a certain way when that certain way did not resonate with her.

Some of the gems were the ones spoken by one of Maya’s greatest students, Oprah Winfrey. Oprah told story after story about how Maya was the one person who could ground her in an instant. How Maya told her when Oprah was having one of her moments of feeling sorry for herself and sobbing hysterically down the phone, “there is a rainbow in every cloud. “ Wisely telling Oprah that regardless of what she was going through, she was going to come out of it a much better and stronger person because God had put that rainbow in the clouds as a symbol of hope. As a symbol that there is beauty even in the midst of darkness and fear. To let us know after every storm there is calm.

Oprah also spoke about how Maya told her, “Stand still in yourself and know who you are.” In other words, regardless of what anyone else may say about us, do to us, as long as we give ourselves enough time and space to be with ourselves, we will be able to be without living within the realms of anyone else’s expectations. That once we become authentically who we asked to come here to be, we live our lives fully and unapologetically because we have given ourselves the gift of standing still in our own and hearing who we are. Allowing us to become.

She also told Oprah, “You alone are enough.” Meaning there is no one that can complete us but us. There is no one that can make us but us. There is no one that can step in our shoes and live our lives so there is no need for us to please anyone else but ourselves. When we please ourselves, we please the world because we radiate out that energy that says I alone am enough. Powerful affirmation for us all.

And just when I thought I could not get enough,  First Lady Michele Obama got up and spoke about how women like Maya Angelou helped to pave the way for a little back girl from the South Side of Chicago like her to become the First Lady of the United States living in the White House. How she learned that if we stay true to who we are, the world will envelop us.  That when we stand in our truths, the world comes looking for us. We don’t have to go looking for it.

There were so many gems from the Memorial Service that even when I was moved to tears, the tears were tears of joy and I understood why when her son, Guy Johnson, said, “In the midst of sadness, we are finding joy.” What a fitting tribute to his mother, "In the midst of sadness we are finding joy". The same as there is a rainbow in every cloud.  Where there is despair, there is hope.  Where there is sadness, there is joy. Where there is an ending, there is a beginning. With every trial, there is a reward.

Thank you Dr. Maya Angelou for being the phenomenal woman you were and for sharing your phenomenal self with us because it allowed so many of us to be who we are today. Allowed so many of us to stand still in ourselves and to proudly know who we are. I know it is true for me. And I am grateful for finding you when I did. May you rest in peace because your love and light will always remain flames in my heart stoking me to be the best I can be. To give when I get. To teach when I learn. To do better when I know better. To be a phenomenal woman because I, Oprah, First Lady Michelle Obama, and so many other women are walking in your footsteps and the footsteps of those who came before you.

And we are, as Oprah said, the women we are today because you were....Namaste