This six-sentence blog challenge prompt from GirlieOnTheEdge is the word cardinal. I’ve been thinking about my mother this week, I guess, so here’s another bit of Ella Mae-ism.

Cardinal: the color of a tufted red bird that sings “pret- ty,  pret-ty, pret-ty” to his mate; the color of garments in the Catholic hierarchy; the color of the handmaid, Offred’s cloak; and a rule of primary importance.

My mother’s cardinal rule for her female children (that’s all she had) was, “You can do anything you want if you work hard enough for it.”

That translated into things like, “Can’t never done nothing, he died a long time ago,” and “Ignore it (your little aches and pains) and it’ll go away,” and my favorite, “Stand up, speak up, and pick up your feet.”

So, like the queen whose husband was off fighting a war when his enemy surrounded the castle, I stood up straight and tall and pretended I feared nothing, I spoke up for myself (the employee’s union didn’t hurt) so that I could advance with my male colleagues, I ignored a lot of “stuff,” and NEVER, EVER accepted can’t.

Now I’m revising my sixth book, even though I didn’t get started with this kind of writing until I’d retired.

And as for picking up my feet, I still work out barefoot (do almost everything barefoot) because the toe I drag always trips me when I wear shoes—sorry Mom.