I’m not sure about you, but I’m getting fairly weary of the angry women. The ones who seem to have a multi-tiered platform they are fighting for. Amidst the placard-carrying, strident-marching, hat-wearing, mic-grabbing females is a long list of items that they deem need to be changed. It makes me want to walk the other way or turn the channel. But just because they are capable of becoming tiresome (at least to me), it’s not to say they have nothing to be frustrated about.

I think there is one item in particular that is deserving of a little more inspection: equal pay for equal work. A lot of women today find themselves as the primary wage-earner. Whether supporting themselves or a family, it is the responsibility of many women to earn enough income to pay the bills. So, if there is truth that this disparity still exists, the effect on the ability to maintain independence is significant. This suddenly becomes a platform in need of change. Before a problem can be addressed or change can be created, one must fully understand the real story behind today’s statistical gap.

Sometimes we can be a bit hard on the men in our lives, mostly because we don’t understand how they do life. The good news is that our genders are different. Understanding and appreciating those differences will help us relax. Whether it’s a boyfriend, boss, co-worker, son, or spouse, when we remember that they just think differently, it can simplify life and reduce conflict.

I imagine there were several things about my mothering that these ladies felt the need to examine. My life was not cookie cutter, but that didn’t make it bad. But I, like every other mother who was juggling life pressures, occasionally needed a pat on the back. That day, as I exited the airport, I decided that if no one else would, I was going to give myself one. I was going to do mom life my own way, and it really was good.

There are a few things that seem to drive us all crazy, for me some days there may be many. But one that definitely tops the list is the challenge of making ends meet—stretching the budget to pay the bills. It seems like we are always chasing that “I wish I could just get this figured out and keep it that way” illusive dream.

I recently helped my mother move from a three bedroom home into a one bedroom apartment. Shortly after that my husband and I also spent several days sorting through his father’s life’s possessions. After returning home from these exhausting endeavors I looked at the things that filled my closets, drawers, and cabinets and realized that as we live life, we accumulate clutter. It’s inevitable.