I was raised in a different environment than most of my peers.  It was an anachronistic upbringing in a very modern world.  I was always told that “to those whom much is given, much is expected.”  The women I grew up watching were very different from the ones today and the one I have become.  They taught me to persevere and that there was no substitute for hard work.

As I look back, I saw several generations of women in my community.  The older generation was born in a time where a baby girl did as her parents told her until she was married and then did as her husband told her until she died.  They saw their husbands as infallible, even if they were boorish specimens that were poor in character.  I have seen a woman defend her husband in the face of many affairs.  “Men will be men…