She's Always a Woman to Me

Tonight I dashed into the grocery store to pick up something on my way home, and as I was searching the aisles, Billy Joel's song She's Always a Woman to Me came on over the sound system. I haven't thought about this song for a long time, but it actually is one that reminds me of my mom. She wasn't very interested in popular music, but I distinctly remember her singing the chorus of this song, particularly these lines (I can almost hear her voice sustaining the "oooooh" words):

Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, she never gives out and she never gives in
She just changes her mind




I think we even had a conversation about these words, and she was asking me what I thought it meant that the girl was "ahead of her time." I don't remember exactly what we said in that conversation, but I remember coming away with the impression that I mom liked the maturity, independence and strong will of the woman described in this song. And I like those qualities too, probably because my own mother modeled those traits for me in her own character.

I always think about my mom when I hear this song (and my trip to the grocery store made me realize that I don't hear this song very often anymore). Even the line "she just changes her mind" is typical of my mom's approach to life and healthy living. I once remember hearing my mom describe herself as "an extremist" when she was talking to a friend on the phone  - she was referring to the extreme choices that she made in her healthy eating habits, and it really is an apropos description. But my mom also would change her mind often about whatever route of extremist behavior that she felt was the most appropriate, based on whatever she was currently reading or thinking about. So I always have a little smile when I hear that line about the woman who changes her mind, and because it seems like that trait also resonated with my mother. Perhaps, in some ways, it is a trait that I have as well.