In celebration of Women’s History Month, I am going to be holding a contest for the woman that inspires you the most! Simply comment in the section below for a woman that inspires you the most! It can be someone famous, someone alive, (this includes Aunts, mothers, and grandmothers,) or someone that is no longer with us- as long as you give a name and a reason you will be entered into the drawling. You have until midnight March 31st to get your response to me! If picked you will win a 50.00 visa gift card!
The woman that inspires me more than any other woman ever is my Grandmother, Stella Knight. Stella was the woman that raised me. She took me in when I was a baby because my Mom was sick. Stella was 67 years old when she found out I was going to be coming to live with her. She wasn’t like most Grandma’s- she didn’t like to be called Grama, Mimi, mimah- no- she liked for me to call her Stella! She was there for every scrape on my knew, for every time I asked her to make me her famous Mac n cheese, and for every time I just needed someone to listen. She was my best friend.
In our neighborhood of Evansville, Indiana, Stella developed quite the reputation for feeding homeless people if they came up to her door asking for food. I’ll never forget the time when I was nine, a young boy knocked on her door. He couldn’t have been more than 16. He put his hand behind his head bashfully, “Ma’am, I hate to trouble you, but a friend of mine said you would feed me if I asked.” Stella’s eyes widened, “You’re just a BABY!”
I watched as Stella proceeded to make the biggest steak known to man! The boys eyes widened, and he started to dig in. To this day I’ll never forget how hard he started to shake every time he went to pick up his fork. Stella pats him on the back, “Slow down honey, there’s more where that came from.” About an hour later the boy stands up and he hugs Stella letting out a long deep sob. The type of hug you can only give someone when the world has kicked the shit out of you. The type of hug a 16 year old boy shouldn’t have to give. Stella gives him a bag of sandwhiches and our number. She tells him if he ever needs anything he is always welcome in our home.
When he leaves Grandpa John comes in the room, and he is mad! “Stella, you can’t keep inviting all these homeless people in to our home!”
To which she replies with my favorite response of all time, “Oh John, shut the hell up!”
Grandpa John chuckles to himself and goes into the other room. Stella takes me by the hand and we go to kitchen table. We sit there, and there is a long pause. She proceeds to tell me that when she is nine she is living with seven brothers and sisters in California with her parent’s. Stella’s mother and father desert them one afternoon when she is 11, she is left to take care of all her brothers and sister’s by herself. “You see Maegan- we as women are unbreakable. We are fighters. It is our responsibility to make sacrifices for those around us we care about.”
I never understood what she meant until I had a family of my own years later. We would go on to lose Stella to a stroke a few years later. Several homeless people she had helped thoughout the years showed up to her funeral. They shared stories of how she changed their lives, helped them get jobs, and even find a place to live! It was a beautiful sight. Stella Knight was an amazing woman, and she is my choice for the woman that inspires me the most! Who is yours? Remember, you have until March 31st at midnight to be entered in to the drawing for a 50 dollar Visa card! Just post in the comments section about the woman that inspires you the most, and give a reason why!
My Life As Maegan Hagan 