The Coder

Every year on March 8th, Internation Women’s Day is celebrated around the globe. Meant as an opportunity to celebrate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women, it also presents us with an opportunity to genuflect on important women in our lives.

This year’s theme of #ChooseToChallenge calls on us to shine a light on the gender bias and inequalities that exist in our society. This just so happens to be a bit of a passion project for my wife, “The Coder”.

There is so much about my wife the represents the spirit of what Internation Women’s Day is all about. For one, she is a very proud mother of a 3 and 1/2-year-old little girl.

Motherhood is something my wife has always wanted, regardless of the sacrifices necessary. So willing was she to become a mother, that she underwent a tremendous physical transformation to ensure her body was healthy.

Every day, The Coder is up at the crack of dawn to wrestle with an over-active preschooler intent on waking every living creature in the house (and believe me, there are a TON). What starts as coffee and snuggles on the couch can quickly turn into riding bikes and playing on the swingset before mid-morning when she carts the kid off to school.

That’s when The Coder dawns her second hat of the day, that of a front-end developer. Intent on saving the denizens of the internet money, she spends her days working on the code that bestowed upon her the snazzy nickname. Many days, this involves trying to also balance work with a hyperactive child who, after returning from preschool, thinks it’s immediately playtime with Mommy.

But she is more than a Mom and The Coder. She’s also a friend. That friend who’s played “Party Mom” more than a few times. The one who sets an alarm and wakes up at 4 AM to take somebody to a doctor's appointment. That same woman who travels three states in order a check on a friend’s wellbeing.

But still, The Coder is more than that. She is an activist. One who stands firm behind her beliefs and moral convictions.

She’s the lady who donated and volunteered for candidates during the Democratic primary. Who got up at 6 AM the day early voting started to go cast her ballot. Who wept upon learning of the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Coder is the woman who took our infant daughter on a beautiful Chicago morning to take part in the Women’s March in 2018. Who is constantly stressing the importance of being a woman to the same little girl. That little girl who so wants to be like her Mommy that she sneaks into Mommy’s office and tries to type of a keyboard for “work”. The little one who takes Mommy’s lipbalm simply because she sees The Coder put it on.

But to me, she’s more than that. She is the only thing I see when I think about the future. The woman who I proudly call my partner. Who teaches me new things every day. Shapes the way I look at the world. Makes me want to do my part to make this world a better place.

The Coder is my reason to #ChooseToChallenge.