International Women's Day 2010 - Part One

Images by Tiffany Teske

Monday was a wonderful day. It was International Women's Day. It was also the first time as a mother of two that I needed to figure out a way to be three places at approximately the same time. Another mother, my friend, Dominique, came to the rescue. She has THREE kids. I would probably not have asked her to help me but she was already going to be bringing her kids to the third place I needed to be. So, this is how it played out.

11:15 AM, drop Q off outside of Dom's son's preschool. Dom (who from now on will be D) arrived, with her two daughters in the Chariot (very large stroller). She had just been on a two hour run with them! They all pick up her son, then head back to her mother's to get their bikes. Q rides on the back of D's bike with D's baby in the Chariot, to their house. Back at her house she feeds them all lunch.


In the meantime, I go to my first commitment which starts at 11:30 AM. It is an invitation only mentoring luncheon at the YWCA for International Women's Day. It is for community women and 11th grade girls from Banff High School. When I RSVPed I asked if it was okay to bring my 9 month old daughter. She is very very good at being with me (or shall I say on me) in her carrier and she is part of my everyday reality, which I feel is good for a high school student to see. Plus, we are celebrating women, and I am a woman with small children... They graciously and whole-heartedly accepted both Emmanuelle and I at the luncheon. The theme of the day centered around tea. We learned that in the time it takes to steep a cup of tea three women have been assaulted by their partners. We had tea with our dessert. And we were given favors of a herbal fruit blend of rooibos tea called African Indulgence, from the Banff Tea Co, which is amongst my favorite shops in Banff.


This Photo from the Bridal Blog

They also got crafty and made felt fortune cookies, something I have always wanted to make. I will do a post here when I do. The fortune inside read, "A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water. -Eleanor Roosevelt".

It was fun to meet the students and to talk with them about being in high school. And to meet other women from the community. One woman at the table was born and raised in Banff. Another is from Orleans, where my husband was born and raised. The student I was paired with is the daughter of a woman who is friends with a good friend of mine. Just the other day I had asked my friend if her friend has children and she had talked about this girl, who was friendly, outgoing, and seems to have a really good head on her shoulders. The food was great, they even made sure vegetarians and people with dairy issues were covered, which as a veggie for 23 years, I appreciate. The speaker was a local woman, Karen McDiarmid, who made a film about Tibet called Shining Spirit. It is going to be playing at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. I would like to go and see it because I was not able to stay for the trailer she showed, since I was off to stop number two, which you will hear more about in Part Two...