Wonder Woman: Meet Anita

Have you ever met an accountant? I have. Her name is Anita.

As a girl, Anita enjoyed math. Her love for math eventually led her to college where she studied accounting. Anita has worked for both private and government organizations. Her ability to collect, organize and analyze data to find out what really counts has earned her recognition and respect.  I could end this Wonder Woman post right here. Anita’s professional success as a Certified Public Accountant has been noteworthy.

Anita is not just any Wonder Woman though. She’s my Wonder Woman. She taught me what counts.

I met Anita when I was a teen. She was a volunteer youth mentor at my church. One day we had an activity where a painting instructor came to help the girls make cute decorations for their bedrooms. There were many oohs and ahhs as the instructor held up a wooden  heart washed in white paint. In the middle of the white heart, red calligraphy said “Love One Another”.  The other girls quickly started following the instructor’s directions and their hearts were soon bathing in white paint. I had a problem though. I didn’t want a white heart. I wanted a red heart with white polka dots. The instructor wasn’t very happy with me. My heart wasn’t going to look like the other hearts. It didn’t match the example and would look horrible on my bedroom wall.

I’ll never forgot what Anita said to the painting instructor.  “Amee can paint her heart whatever color she wants. It’s her heart”.  I painted the heart red. After I made the white polka dots, I kept going with the color theme. I added blue boxes, rainbows, green fishes and smiley faces to my heart creation. The poor painting instructor looked a little stressed as I wrote “Love One Another” in black paint at the center of my little heart and then flipped the heart over and wrote “Live Long and Prosper” on the other side.  My heart didn’t look at all like the other girl’s hearts.  My heart would never be held up as the example to follow for future artists to copy and I didn’t care. It was my heart and I loved it.  And I loved Anita for letting me be myself.

Anita taught me something that day. She taught me what really counts.

Anita is a Wonder Woman.