Let’s face it, there’s a lot of talking heads, bloggers, haters, out there, giving their opinions about everything on God’s green earth via the media and the
internet. Yes, a lot of worthless talk. But there’s a group of women in our community who did more than talk the last several months. I call them the Mama Bears of Snoqualmie Ridge.
I’m new to this community, having just moved here last summer from Issaquah. The first I heard about the bond issue was overhearing the Mama Bears talking about it before Zumba at Ridge Fitness. I understood quickly this passionate discussion was about getting a bond passed to build a new middle school to address our bulging at the seams community. I have young daughters, the eldest of which is in second grade, and knowing how quickly the years will fly by before it’s time for her to attend sixth grade, I immediately understood the importance of getting this bond passed. Like the other Mama Bears, nothing is more important to me than my children, especially where they go to school.
But I was out of the proverbial loop, so to speak, because I’ve lived here such a short time. That is, until I observed the mama bears in action. I started getting emails and posts on Facebook about making sure to vote. There were Blogs beautifully written by our own Living Snoqualmie Ridge writer, Facebook posts, a Mama Bear standing in a storm as people came home from work with her vote for the bond sign, letters written, meetings attended, phone calls made. If you listened on any given day you would have heard a low relentless roar, the growl of Mama Bears trying to get this bond passed.
The bond failed by a small percentage. We’re all terribly disappointed about the outcome, of course. But we’ll accept that the answer is no. We’ve heard it before. We’ll be graceful in defeat. We’ll turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the nasty posts and comments from bitter, mean people, because we’re fierce but gracious. We know how to behave in times of disappointment and we certainly want our children to see our example.
But don’t count us out. April is coming soon. And this group of Mama Bears refuses to be quiet, to sit down or be good girls, nice girls. We are ferocious women, resilient mothers, who care about something that matters, the education of our children.
And something else. The children in our homes are going to be fine, with or without the middle school we desperately want for them, because of who their mothers are. When we sit down for dinner tonight our children will know that they matter to us. And that they matter to their community, their country, their world. Because their mothers fought hard for them. No one can take that away from us.
And one other thing. I couldn’t be prouder to live in this community. Long live the Mama Bears of Snoqualmie Ridge.
Tess Hardwick is a novelist and mother. Her first novel, “Riversong” will be available in April by Booktrope Publishing. She lives in Snoqualmie, Washington with her husband two young daughters. Learn more about her at www.tesshardwick.com and to follow her blog, “Inspiration For Ordinary Life”.
