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Loida Casares Ruiz

Wife, Mother, Writer, Advertising Manager

Loida Casares Ruiz grew up in Northeast Houston. She graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Minor in English. She received a Master of Arts in Communication in 2001. She works in advertising by day and is a mother, wife, and writer by night. She has al...

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Wonder Women!

Loida Casares Ruiz

The only pair of Underoos I ever owned were the Wonder Woman ones.  I loved my Wonder Woman Underoos.  I wore them out until I lost one of the pieces.

Why did I like Wonder Woman so much when I was a kid?  Was it that she was a Hispanic woman super hero? Lynda Carter is Hispanic, but I didn’t know that back then.  I just liked her because she was so cool and fearless.

I’ve known a lot of wonder women in my life.  My mom was one of them.  She was a fearless woman who never backed down when she believed in something.  She was not afraid of very many people and they knew it. 

My father likes to tell this one story about his brother who was very outspoken and aggressive.  Most people were intimidated by him.  One day my uncle was talking smack about my dad and being very critical of my him in front of my mom and my grandmother.  My mom was pissed off, and that is something you did not want to do to my mother.  

She went right up to his face and told him, “I don’t even know why everyone is so scared of you, like you are so special! Who do you think you are, the king?”

My dad said she was really angry, but that she decided that she wasn’t going to back down from speaking her mind to him, because he was disrespecting them in their own home.

My dad said my uncle was all apologetic, although later they heard he was really mad too.  However my mom said her piece and my uncle never acted that way in front of her again.  That was the kind of mother I had.

When she was a little girl her father was abusive with her mother and her brother.  She said she couldn’t understand how they just stood there and took it.  She also felt that if my grandfather ever became angry with her that he was capable of hitting her too.  So when the day did arrive that my grandfather had an angry fit and turned on her she said she was ready and she ran. She had made up her mind that she would not stand there and take it.  Eventually she had to go back home that night, but by then my grandfather had calmed down and he didn’t do anything to her. I think my grandfather saw a little bit of him in my mother and he knew that he had met his match.

There are many wonder women in this world.  The women I see waiting for the bus in the summer heat, or in the rain, with children in their arms and at their feet inspire me.  The Afghani women who suffered under the Taliban regime for so many years and survived are wonder women. 

When things get rough for me and I think I have reached the end of my rope I think of these women, who really transcend each and every day, and it helps put things in my life into perspective.