A letter to American Women as we celebrate 250 years
1931 | Grandmother and FSA (Farm Security Administration) borrower. Willow Creek. Malheur County, Oregon
As we approach America’s 250th anniversary of independence, we wanted to use this as an opportunity to celebrate who we are. I, like many of you, are deeply concerned about how things are. It has never felt quite like this before, has it? No, this is new. To catch, to handle, to pay for, to absorb, to change, to fight happens daily. We feel responsible. We are exhausted. We need a lot of love.
American women, I love watching you succeed, I’ve loved learning about you. There is so much to love. Too much. I loved being Barbara Bush for Halloween one year. And an astronaut the next, a white paint bucket on my head. I love that we are so weird. I love that we love Disney as much as we do. I love that we are kind. I love Nancy Drew. I love that we go to the moon, sell out stadiums, set records, own businesses across all industries and sizes, run banks, run marathons, teach strangers and above all –try harder.
I love that we are complicated. I love that we are completely imperfect yet always hopeful. I love the darkness we carry – from generation to generation as we wonder who we are and where we came from. What dimension we have. I love that we always want to be better, to get better, to feel better, to be smarter. I love that we made the Girl Scouts.
I love our rituals, our recipes, our religions, but more importantly, how we share them with each other.
I have lived all over the world. I have never seen someone show up faster than an American woman. If you dust off Google, and rabbit-hole down the history of America, you will find women showing up every single time. In big and small ways. In our own ways. But always organized, always creating, always forging. And that definitely has not changed.
How are we all so brave? How are we so optimistic? How do we always find our way up? It’s just who we are.
This American milestone, this 250th anniversary semiquincentennial, I want us to celebrate this. It’s a milestone for the US. A recognition of the love, innovation, science, art, joy, pain, and sacrifice that we have poured all over these fifty states to make the best parts possible.
We put together something special for this occasion. A reminder, an affirmation, a hall pass – ways to honor this anniversary and move us towards the next 250, better.
E Pluribus Una,
Abby
Founder and CEO of Sam
