Pat, Thanks much for that "thumbnail sketch"  of your history in changing
the world for breastfeeding.  Many of us began at about that time to make it
happen.  I often thought of the quotation, "I may not be able to tip the
enormous scale of justice, but I can choose the side that will feel my
stubborn weight." That's where I was at my little LLL meetings.

People like you, with your limitless dreams and courage, were causing a
stir, creating the chaos necessary before something better could be
established. I read with great pride of the heroics of you infamous
risk-takers of those years. I couldn't do those things myself, but I felt
that I was a part of the energy behind every step toward our goal. My
appreciation of those of you who dreamed BIG dreams and set to, against all
odds, in realizing them, is boundless. Even when you "failed" you won. We won.

"This year, lets not forget where we came from and where we are heading,"
you reminded us. Whether we are "old" or "new" in this cause, let us keep
our focus and energies on our goal, remembering that each day, we build on
what those who came before us have struggled to gain.

It all began with seven mothers at a picnic...Boy, those picnics can surely
be nourishing, can't they?

With deepest appreciation,

Patricia Gima,  IBCLC
Milwaukee
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