Dear World: Women Are Still Waiting...A Professional Organizer's International Women's Day Story 2026

March 8th is International Women's Day and in the past I have tried to celebrate the occasion via blogs that center around my personal journey as a female business owner and the women who have inspired me along the way (and, yes, that does now include many female clients). Feel free to check out one from last year by clicking HERE or one from 2021 by clicking HERE.

This year's IWD theme is "Give To Gain" and I have to say, it kind of pisses me off.

On the surface I get it.

"Give To Gain emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organizations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it's intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise." Source: IWD website.

But why is it up to women to ALWAYS carry that burden?

We are literally raised to be the caregivers of both young children and senior parents while maintaining full time jobs whether married or single.

We give up a lot of our time, our energy, our blood, our sweat and a lot of our tears to raising up a lot of men but it is usually not reciprocated back fairly.

I could go on and on about the inequality that still exists between men and women but that rabbit hole is not one I wish to go down right now. I just went through two months of chronic infections and had to cancel way too many clients so I need to get this blog written and move on with my day and attempt to continue focusing on recouping the loss of income...translation I will be working weekends for awhile. So here is a professional organizer's International Women's Day story.

When I woke up this past Friday morning to what was the first truly snowy-ish weather day we've had along the Colorado Front Range since early December (yeah, we REALLY REALLY REALLY need snow) knowing that my client for the day had to cancel a few days earlier due to a moving truck delay and therefore my team and I would have nothing to actually unpack, I considered going to a networking event.

Instead, I decided to give myself a break after battling yet another virus this past week (I've apparently had 5 different infections since New Years...it's been a wonky winter for sure!) and not rush out the door. I hunkered down and started writing this blog. I had been mulling over in my head for a few weeks what I might want to write about for this International Women's Day and then I got a call from one of my former team members a little over a week ago who happens to also be a close friend letting me know that a former client that she has been the companion to for the past few years was transitioning to memory care.

We were originally hired by her brother to declutter her townhome, a townhome filled with the typical kind of clutter like collections of empty glass jars, grocery bags and old newspapers but also a lot of very cool family memorabilia alongside her own amazing collection from her years working on NASA projects from the 1980s-2000s.

Sadly, she developed aphasia, "a language disorder caused by brain damage, typically from a stroke, tumor, or injury, that impairs a person's ability to speak, understand, read, or write," (Source: MedlinePlus.gov) years ago, ending her very prolific career despite the fact her actual cognition was still in tact. She just couldn't get the actual words out of her mouth in a productive way anymore.

But her struggles started long before the aphasia diagnosis as she clearly had undiagnosed autism. Having such a brilliant mind but also having difficulty connecting with people made for a rather lonely life through her adult years. She never married and has never had a social network to lean on. My former team member/friend became her "lean to". She helped maintain the order of her home, run errands, cook meals, take her to get her hair and nails done and even get her to go to exercise classes. I loved getting updates from her about how much she was actually enjoying getting out and doing things for the first time in years

The news of her significant decline came on the same day that I learned the first boy I ever kissed had died of frontal lobe dementia at the age of 63. That's a whole other story but suffice it to say it was a very sad day. Two people from two very parts of my life succumbing to brain deterioration way too young was more than my brain wanted to handle. But this is life and despite not liking when bad things happen to good people we have no choice but to accept it.

Watching my friend's funeral online last Sunday gave me some degree of comfort to hear how much he was loved and will be missed.

My former client though?

Other than her brother, I am not sure there will be anyone who will truly miss her.

And will there be anyone else to even remember her contributions and dedication to science and space exploration when she passes?

If the current toddlers in charge haven't already wiped out her employment history I'm guessing it won't be long...sigh.

This was a woman who broke the glass ceiling and busted into a world that had been reserved for men for the most part.

Sure, there were women before her at NASA who were instrumental in the Space Race but they were not recognized at the time because, well, it seems men wanted to take all the credit despite not doing the work themselves...double sigh.

I will probably spend the rest of my life shaking my head in disbelief and, yes, being angry over how women are still being dismissed for our accomplishments. And don't even get me started about how women are still being dismissed when we go to the doctor and have the nerve to complain about oh, I don't know, chronic sinus headaches (yeah, that's happening to me at the moment).

Then there is the fact that we are waking up every morning to yet more B.S. excuses as to why our so-called leaders are doing nothing about all of the evidence implicating so many powerful men in an international sex trafficking ring.

It's just disgusting and gross.

ALL...OF...IT!!!

Sorry, I know ALL CAPS may be somewhat triggering these days since you know who feels the need to use them in every social media post. And I am also aware that being so open about my feelings on these matters may not only be perceived as another hysterical woman's rants but also make it very clear of my political leanings and, therefore may mean I don't get hired by certain people who don't share my morals and values, but I really don't care.

As of March 6th there had been no official proclamation that the so-called leader of the free world is acknowledging International Women's Day or Women's History Month. Maybe while I was sleeping, though, last night, he tweeted out some ridiculous message about how much he loves women but this blog was scheduled to be published by my awesome marketing coordinator on Friday and neither one of us need to be spending our Sunday morning updating anything. It can wait until tomorrow or probably not at all. I'm fully aware that I am not a social media influencer and whatever I say merely is a cathartic release for myself. I'm not looking for any nods of agreement nor will I engage in any potential negative comments from any trolls who may see this.

I am here just to exercise my right to freedom of speech even though that seems as each day goes by we are heading down the very dark road towards losing that freedom in addition to disenfranchising women even more as Congress debates the freaking SAVE Act again and again.

It hurts my heart so much to see so many women continue to bust their asses doing amazing work across all industries while still making only 80 cents on the dollar compared to men as of 2025, a few cents down from previous years.

That's right...down.

And yet there are those that think the answer for women is to stay home and have more babies so we don't have to worry our pretty little heads about making money???

Yeah...sure...ok.

This obviously turned into a rant, but that should surprise no one that has read enough of my past blogs.

However, I will not apologize for it.

I was raised by a strong mother and inspired by an amazing grandmother which is why I am here right now, a 63 year old twice divorced women who has been pushed down but was taught to rise up no matter what, dust myself off and carry on.

For women, though, like the former client I mentioned above?

There is no more rising up.

She will be sundowning more and more until she, herself, returns to dust.

I do believe her brother will do his best to share her legacy but there are so many other incredible women who have made incredible contributions to this planet but will have no one to make sure they are not forgotten.

As far as I am concerned, that just makes their passing whenever it happens that much more tragic.

I dated someone a few years ago who used to say to me, "Well, at least you aren't a woman in Afghanistan."

Honestly, does it really matter where you are a woman in this world anymore?

With all that said, I am still hopeful.

Most importantly, I am grateful to all the women who came before me and taught me how to keep rising from the ashes NO MATTER WHAT!

To every woman out there, we must keep rising up and maybe one day instead of sharing angry blogs we will share stories of equality and justice for us all.

A girl/woman can continue to dream. ✌️❤️