Who Is She?

Allow me to introduce you to The Matriarch. She and her husband (Grumpy) are my bosses. They opened this business 30 years ago and have been successful without letting the desire to go corporate take the fun out of being self-employed.

You could say I, somewhat, revere The Matriarch. If you met her, you would be surprised to hear she is 73. I thought she was in her 50s. She is fully capable and very healthy. She always knows what to do, she's never caught off guard, and she don't-take-no-crap. This woman is quick in wit and thinks on her toes. She always has a plan, works hard, and has no plans for retiring. Though she works more than full-time, runs the business, and her home, she is always a mother, always a grandmother, and loves to chat.

She is in a bridge club that plays regularly, has a lunch-bunch group that meets monthly, loves to tell you every detail of any story over and over again, and watches documentaries with her husband; she is an old lady.

She gardens, always makes a fresh lunch for herself and Grumpy, makes homemade jellies and brings them in for the entire office to enjoy. She takes her grandchildren on adventures planned just for them, tells me to take the day off and go to the museum, and she drinks wine at lunch; she is a young lady.

She has learned a million ways to make life easier and I love to learn from her. She can recite whole recipes off the top of her head, accommodate her entire family's food-needs (grand kids and all) for a two-week long vacation. She turns every day-time outing into some kind of lunch date with her daughters.

If you upset her, she tells you exactly why, but she never treats you differently. She treats everyone like family. She is passionate and educated. She is confident but approachable.

She is fantastic. She is my boss. She is The Matriarch.