My late grandmother lived to see 100. Since her passing, I think of her often and wish I could sit with her once more and chat over tea.

My grandma was a Cancer. Her birthday was in early July, often during the hottest summer days.

She loved her family and we were a huge sense of pride for her. I was always introduced as the oldest of her 20 grandchildren. I was also the first to have kids so I got bragging rights for birthing her first two great-grandchildren.

Grandma loved to coordinate her jewelry and pantsuits. After her passing, I took to wearing the water element necklace in her memory.

I wore it for an entire year. Every time I touched it, I remembered her strength, her tenacity, and her determination. I also remembered her fierce love of her family.

My grandma had her share of struggles with her mental health. When I contemplate this now I see a part of that being how there was so little support and resources available to her. This is a shared part of our two stories. We both experienced isolation and a lack of support.

The expectations that were placed upon women then and are still placed on women now fill me with an immense rage. Things are changing when it comes to awareness and openly discussing our struggles.

My grandma was ahead of her time. She was fiercely independent and didn't marry until her mid-30s. She went on to have 5 children in a span of 7 years. What I wouldn't give to have one more conversation with her. I'd love to know if she felt her ambition was thwarted by societal roles? Was her life enough? Did she long for more?

I think this is the complexity that many of us women face. In wanting and desiring more. Of feeling caged. But in spite of it all, we still manage to carry on.

Every time I put my water necklace on, I think of all of the women who have come before me and of all the women who will come after me. It is their strength I draw from. And it is their legacies that are paving our way forward.

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