Girl Power

Before the Dodge commercial even aired I was contemplating this blog on Girl Power.  I usually watch the Super Bowl as a skeptic.  That thing is one well-oiled marketing machine and the nation falls into it every year.  Whatever.  This is one night we share with family and friends gathered around America’s favorite sport.  It’s the lights, the music, the food, the commercials, the tributes to our military men and women, the celebration of competition and America, hopefully, at its best.  What’s not to love.

I rarely make it through a rendition of America the Beautiful or the Star Spangled Banner without tearing up and last night was no different.  In my amateur opinion I thought Jennifer Hudson and the Sandy Hook Children’s Choir couldn’t have done better with the amber waves of grain.  And Alicia Keys gave one of the most stirring performances of the National Anthem.  It seemed very unpretentious, not over sung and simple.

Beyonce definitely delivered a show.  I know some will say her prancing and dancing was a little too zealous, but I give her props.  In the past years, halftime shows have been done by bands or multiple artists.  Beyonce did this one on her own.

But the girl power shot of the night has to go to the young farm girl standing in her field during the Dodge “God Made A Farmer” commercial.  (I’m not tech savvy enough to pull out the still shot of her, but my mom is.  Thanks for the photo Mom!)

In that moment, all of my youthful pride and passion of being that girl, that farmer’s daughter boiled over.  That was me not too long ago, overwhelmed by the need to spread the word that American agriculture in all its diversity is great today, but working toward greater tomorrows; driven by a need to prove myself worthy to my grandpa and dad; all the while holding on to the dream that one day I would build a life on a farm and be a part of the family’s legacy.

I saw my grandmother, mother and mother-in-law in that picture, as quintessential farm wives, showing me the humble quiet strength of a woman in her gentle touch as a mother and in her unwavering support of her family’s efforts on the farm, in the church and community.

Last night, as I peeked in on my sleeping fairy farm princess, I prayed that one day she stands on our farm in all her sparkles, arms crossed, face set with determination as she paves new paths in this world.

Girl Power.