[He DARED me to publish it, thinking that I would not be DARE-ing enough to let him have his say.  Hah!  I TREASURE the fact that he did most of the work for me this week.  All I had to do was my usual big-sister micro-managing—editing for typos, misspellings, grammar, etc.  After all, I do have standards!]

Yo! DARE-Head! TREASURE begins at home!

by Lou DiMarco

Wow, the theme about “TREASURE” really hit home with me and made me wonder why my big sister, Liz DiMarco Weinmann—the big-mouthed, big-word host of this Website—did not explicitly mention our MOM as a TREASURE!   At least, she didn’t in her last post, although she’s praised both our parents in other posts.  I know I’m risking my life by saying this, but could it be that her “mental-pause” is finally kicking in?

For all of you women just over the age of 40 or even 50 and 60—who might forget about your moms who are well over those milestones and still doing daring feats every day—here’s my DARE-ing insight:

Don’t forget the women who go unknown, who are not so famous, who worked in a time when it was for survival—not just being fashionable.  Women whose steps up the ladder were literal and not part of some statement, model, goal, or vision other than helping their families!

I TREASURE my mom this holiday season, this woman who worked as a seamstress in a clothing factory (a.k.a. sweat shop). Every day, day after day, year after year, despite deteriorating eyesight and dealing with stress from travel into very bad areas of the city where we lived.  Not for personal growth, not for her own needs, but for the survival of the family.

When I was old enough to drive, I would pick up this selfless woman from work.  I was so full of life and fearful of nothing—until I realized just how bad her factory’s neighborhood was.  Policemen on every corner, a drive-by waiting to happen.

At that point, my appreciation for what this woman—my MOTHER!—endured every day rose even higher.  There is a reason why the term “Greatest Generation” was coined for women like my mother, who grew up or immigrated here after World War II and gave birth to the baby boomers, a generation of advocates and activists, to be sure, who were more than a little inspired by the sacrifices of their mothers and fathers before them.

For my mother and millions like her, the TREASURE was to retire after working for so many years, well into their sixties, to help put three children through college—all without taking on student loans or any other kind of assistance.  Again, the reward was not about her, but about what she and her husband—my father—had inspired in their children, which was that education was the key to a better life here in the United States.

For them, their greatest TREASURE was in seeing their three kids graduate college and go on to remarkable careers—three kids who grew up in a house with two parents who had no formal education.  This was a tremendous accomplishment for two immigrants who some would call “uneducated” but I would call inspired and nothing short of transformational.

To this day, my mom puts aside as much money as she can for her “Christmas club” bank account, just so she can give my sons and my niece nice things.

So, this holiday season, I TREASURE that part of me and what I have become: my success, my goals, my heritage that is from a very strong woman who influenced my life beyond her dreams and beyond what even she believed she could DARE reach.

I TREASURE the value of family, a strong father who worked hard and influenced my two sisters and me to do the same.

I’m impressed that my big sister is DARE-ing enough to let me have my say on her Website. (Old rivalries die hard!) I TREASURE the woman she grew up to be and her work to help other women be strong.