What started out as a political event, International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8 every year, has become an occasion for people around the globe to express love for women. I had a wonderful day planned. I was going to start my day with a challenging work out — I'd feel alive and strong! I was going to travel across the Bay to meet a new heroine, someone who has been supporting women for several decades through labor and childbirth. I was so excited to learn her incredible story. And finally, I was going to end the day as I did everyday spending time with my boys.

Instead, my day started right at midnight when my older son woke me up crying and proceeded to vomit all over the bedroom carpet. So I spent the wee hours of my International Women’s Day cleaning him up and soothing him back to sleep. I made him chicken porridge, the way my mother used to make for me when I was sick, with sliced onions, garlic and potatoes, and a drizzle of sesame oil. I spent my day with my boy home from school. I held his hand and heard him tell me over and over how much he loves my chicken porridge, how much he loves me.

As the day draws to an end, I feel the weight of my heroine Rhodessa’s words in my heart when she says, "Sister friends, daughters, mothers, we all have a right to a life, our own life. We know very well how to take care of other people, but in the midst of all that, don’t forget that it’s about your life.” But I also hear my heroine Tristan’s words, "We are queens. We are empresses. Let’s know our worth and own it!"