How My Grandmother Taught Me To Embrace The Strength Of Women

Between Mother’s Day and all the brouhaha surrounding Russia and Putin, I find myself ruminating on my Polish family, particularly the stength of the women in my clan.

Growing up in Chicago, I always heard about the steely resolve of my maternal Polish grandmother, Jadwiga Wilk Migut. Jadwiga died before I was born in the 1960s, but she was often talked about during holiday gatherings where my large Polish clan gathered around dinner tables that, technically, could only seat eight people. How 14 people managed to eat around…