Behind Every Good Man

by Sara Goodman Confino

but I’ll tell you this much: behind every good man is an even better woman.”

For the first time in my life, I was speaking my mind for myself. Not someone else. And it felt like coming home.

I shook my head in disbelief. “Has anyone ever stopped you from doing something?” She grinned. “Many have tried, none have succeeded.”

“Beverly, you do what it takes. If I teach you nothing else, you learn that. You do what you need to do to survive.”

Men liked to feel independent even if you couldn’t trust them to get the details right.

“Mama told me once that behind every good man was an even better woman,” I said quietly. Anna turned to look at me. “You know full well he wouldn’t be anywhere without you. And Michael wouldn’t be here without me. It seems a shame to just let them make all the decisions after we put them in the room.”

“He said

that his charge to us wasn’t just to change the world, but to fix it. And he told us to look at ourselves in the mirror every single morning and ask ourselves what we were going to do to make the world better that day.”

“I know you think I had it much easier when you were little—and maybe I did. But I also remember what it’s like to put yourself last and put everyone else first.”

Because she deserved to be the person she wanted to be, not just who the world expected her to be.

“That’s the secret, you know. You never stop being a mother. Even when your kids are grown.”