NOTORIOUS & LUSCIOUS
FAREWELL TO A SUPREME QUEEN
“Work-life balance was a term not yet coined in the years my children were young; it is aptly descriptive of the time distribution I experienced. My success in law school, I have no doubt, was in large measure because of baby Jane. I attended classes and studied diligently until 4 in the afternoon; the next hours were Jane's time, spent at the park, playing silly games or singing funny songs, reading picture books and A. A. Milne poems, and bathing and feeding her. After Jane's bedtime, I returned to the law books with renewed will. Each part of my life provided respite from the other and gave me a sense of proportion that classmates trained only on law studies lacked.”
- Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Advice for Living
Oh, mamas.
What a week. Here we are at Wednesday again, and I am still reeling from the loss of legendary, Notorious, and indeed, oh-so Luscious Mother, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
When I referred to the revered and respected Supreme Court Justice as “Luscious” to my husband over the weekend his eyebrow went up. Perhaps it was because he saw this as a tad flip. Or maybe he felt it wasn’t a substantial enough description of one who had created such impact on the world.
But he came around, and I will go down swinging on this one, sisters, because that diminutive, passionate, opera-loving, dissenting feminist was about as Luscious as a human can get. She embodied the core Luscious principles of self-worth, self-care, partnership, motherhood, humor, and purpose. Her career accomplishments speak for themselves, and when she was off the clock she was doubling-down on the things that made her whole and happy: exercise, friendship, the arts, and family time.There's a reason this dynamo lived to be so vital at such an advanced age.
As she said to Katie Couric in a 2014 interview: “You can’t have it all at once, but over my life span, I think I have had it all.” And that, mamas, is Supremely Luscious.
So right here, today, I’m sharing a practice that I plan to take on in the coming weeks. (And, if all goes well, maybe it’ll become something I wear more often than a bra!) Here it is:
I will feel into my worth, know my value, and believe I belong anywhere I stand in my shoes.
I will use my humor to spread love and joy and create connection wherever those shoes take me.
I will lean into my partner and trust that together we can create whatever we want and that however it has gone before in our society is simply history. We have the power to recreate it. Every, every day.
I will be present and loving and silly with my son; I will put down my phone, my mental “to-do” list and just be with him.
I will bring passion and purpose to my work and know that if I withhold or question my gifts and unique offering, I just might be robbing this universe of a new perspective or an innovative shift in consciousness.
Through it all, I will choose to stand boldly and proudly in who I am; dare to belong, even when I am told I do not; dissent when it is unpopular or scary; challenge the norms and mores of the time in which we live; dream beyond them; rise again and again, resilient, tenacious, Notorious and Luscious.
And yet... I confess: in the back of my mind, I wonder, ”Am I too small? Do I really matter?”
I don’t know if the Lusciously Notorious RBG ever asked herself that. I reckon she did at least once or twice. But that pint-sized powerhouse never let it stop her. She rocked this planet holding fast to her strong sense of self and her ironclad beliefs. She stayed as long as she was able and left the legacy of a giant, all because she refused to let doubt, diagnosis, or the patriarchy stop her.
And that, mamas, is my new cocktail of choice. Audacity in the face of resistance. Just think of what we can achieve if we all embody her spirit.
Join us, Luscious.
All our love,
Anna & Sarah
