celebrate my being a woman

I love this goal, but I have no idea how to go about accomplishing it…
I suppose it’s a personal thing. I just haven’t figured out what it means to me yet.

It came to my mind after having read the entry on this goal by .

“For strong women”

A strong woman is a woman who is straining.
A strong woman is a woman standing
on tiptoe and lifting a barbell
while trying to sing Boris Godunov.
A strong woman is a woman at work
cleaning out the cesspool of the ages,
and while she shovels, she talks about
how she doesn’t mind crying, it opens
the ducts of the eyes, and throwing up
develops the stomach muscles, and
she goes on shoveling with tears
in her nose.

A strong woman is a woman in whose head
a voice is repeating, I told you so,
ugly, bad girl, bitch, nag, shrill, witch,
ballbuster, nobody will ever love you back,
why aren’t you feminine, why aren’t
you soft, why aren’t you quiet, why
aren’t you dead?

A strong woman is a woman determined
to do something others are determined
not be done. She is pushing up on the bottom
of a lead coffin lid. She is trying to raise
a manhole cover with her head, she is trying
to butt her way through a steel wall.
Her head hurts. People waiting for the hole
to be made say, hurry, you’re so strong.

A strong woman is a woman bleeding
inside. A strong woman is a woman making
herself strong every morning while her teeth
loosen and her back throbs. Every baby,
a tooth, midwives used to say, and now
every battle a scar. A strong woman
is a mass of scar tissue that aches
when it rains and wounds that bleed
when you bump them and memories that get up
in the night and pace in boots to and fro.

A strong woman is a woman who craves love
like oxygen or she turns blue choking.
A strong woman is a woman who loves
strongly and weeps strongly and is strongly
terrified and has strong needs. A strong woman is strong
in words, in action, in connection, in feeling;
she is not strong as a stone but as a wolf
suckling her young. Strength is not in her, but she
enacts it as the wind fills a sail.

What comforts her is others loving
her equally for the strength and for the weakness
from which it issues, lightning from a cloud.
Lightning stuns. In rain, the clouds disperse.
Only water of connection remains,
flowing through us. Strong is what we make
each other. Until we are all strong together,
a strong woman is a woman strongly afraid.

is by doing this

in the best possible way.

so yeah, the nine day periods suck but other than that, being a girl (in western society at least) is great. rock on sisters.

I am me, and I try to celebrate it each and every day.

The Art of Being a Woman
To celebrate the royalty and indecisiveness in all of us.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Maya Angelou

Oooo Baby….
I like that now…..
Mmmmm….ummmm….mmm
Now THAT I like…..
Guuuuuuuurl………You packing some nice stuff….
So….you like what you see?
Oh?
You like me?!?
Brotha, you don’t even KNOW me.

You may like this packaging, but you don’t know what’s inside.
Once you figure out how to open it, you may just want to walk away before you even see the goods inside.
You see, this package you like is very special and delicate.
You can’t just tear it open like some birthday boy on his birthday.
Opening this package requires patience, knowledge, cleverness, tenderness, wisdom, love, the Holy Spirit, and

……A

…..MAP!

If you are fortunate enough to open it, can you handle what’s inside?
Will you even know what to do with what’s inside?
Will you recognize that which is in the package?
Probably NOT!
See, lots of men see this package and say they like it. But they don’t even try to figure it out properly in order to get a chance to open it. They try to go straight for the so called goods, not realizing that there’s more to the package than the pretty wrapping. Maybe they just don’t care that there’s more to the package than the pretty wrapping. Either way, they end up disrespecting the ENTIRETotal Package and miss out on a wonderful gift.
You see, I am a Total Package Woman. You can’t just go tearing at the wrapping for the goods because there is way more to me than you see.

You cannot fathom what this package really is.
So, the next time your lustful eye covets the outside packaging, think again.

You say you like it.
But the reality is you don’t even know this package or what it contains.

I could be a real bitch
or
I could be a real witch
You really don’t know because all you see is the wrapping
I could be your worst nightmare
or
I could be your dream come true
How would you know if all you’re concerned with is the wrapping?

I could be your best friend
or
I could be your worst enemy
Unless you approach the package with care, you’ll NEVA know.

You see, I am the Total Package Woman.
Proceed with caution…..

because it is similar to “be a succulent wild woman.” In fact, being succulent and wild sounds quite celebratory to me!