Womanhood

Okay, here is another one my "I've been in deep thought lately" posts. To give you some idea of why I have bee thinking this I should give you a little bit of background to understand where I am coming from.

I have been on the birth control pills now for a couple of years. I have been on them off and on pretty much my whole adulthood. Why? To keep from getting pregnant? No. At one point maybe, but Aaron had a vasectomy about 10 years ago, so not any more. It is to help regulate my periods and keep the symptoms under control. I get it BAD!!!

The last few months I have been thinking of going off of them. Again, why? Well, even though they do help with the PMS symptoms, they just bring on a whole other set of symptoms themselves. So, is it smart to just trade one set for another? At least if I'm off the dumb things the symptoms I have are natural, and not costing me $30 a month! So off I went.

This is my first month synthetic/hormone free. Of course it takes a few months to totally rid your body of the stuff, but I am already seeing drastic changes - some good, some not so good - which brings me to my ponderings.

I have been thinking lately that men just don't know how lucky they are to not have to deal with this stuff month after month!!! Sometimes being a woman just sucks. But, the last couple of days I have been trying to look at the brighter side of womanhood. I don't believe that Heavenly Father gives you challenges without also giving you something good to make up for it. So, here are my thoughts, funny and serious, on the benefits of being a woman. (Aaron and I actually discussed this today while waiting for Jess's game to start, so many of these are coming from a guys perspective as well)

1. Look at all the awesome clothes choices we have. Guys - pants, maybe some shorts. We have pants, shorts, dresses and Capri's at our disposal. On a hot day, when you have to be dressed up, guys don't have much more options but slacks, shirt and tie. Us women can throw on a cute little, next to nothing skirt or dress, stay cool, and still look very classy. Women can also wear guys clothing and get away with it no problem, which also gives us WAY more options. Not so much the other way around unless a guy wants to be pegged as being gay, a transvestite, or imbalanced.

2. Speaking of clothes, we can double our wardrobe in about 2 seconds if we have a good friend, or in my case a daughter, that is the same size as you. Borrowing clothes for girls is an okay thing to do, and is way fun. Guys just find it disturbing. In Aaron's words "It just creeps us out!" Why? He couldn't answer that really, it just does. Maybe it makes them feel gay, I don't know, but they won't do it. So for us girls it's really a two for one. Love it!

3. We can definitely be more confrontational. I have a super hard time with people who feel they can just push others around, and I am VERY vocal about it. Most guys aren't going to hit a girl, so you can get away with it. Not so much for a guy. They can't really be that way without getting their clock cleaned. Aaron is telling me all of the time that one of these days I'm going to get him beat up.

4. Look at all the cool hairstyles we have as well. Long, short, curly, colored, up and down. Yes, a lot of guys do have long hair, but it's different. We have a lot more options here too. Again, a woman can get away with wearing super short hair like a dude, but a guy will be pegged as famine if he put his hair up in a bun.

6. Lets face it, a woman's body is so much more sexy than a mans, and I mean that in a purely NON lesbian way. A naked man just isn't that much to look at. I guess that's why men are so much more visual, they have better stuff to look at.

9. The last thing I have been really thinking about is the most important to me. That is our maternal instinct. I'm not talking about the ability to have a baby, because I wouldn't say that is all that fun. But any woman, whether they give birth to a child or not, has an instinct that is just ingrained in who they are to care for others and be able to raise children.

Women are much more patient when it comes to dealing with their children and I believe much more understanding. It is easy for us to be able to put ourselves into someone else's shoes, see things from their point of view and have empathy for that person, child or adult.

I can tell you, and Aaron would agree, that I have a much closer relationship with our kids. Do they love me more? No, and I don't think either of them would say they did either. It's just a different kind of relationship, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world! It's more of an emotional relationship, a deeper relationship. Sometimes Jess just gets comfort in laying in my lap and Jeff just from talking to me. I don't even have to talk back sometimes. Just to have someone listen is enough. We get comfort in just being together.

Does being a woman suck? Heck yes it does sometimes. But I bet if you asked them being a guy isn't always easy either. And, when I look at the things I DO have from being a woman, I wouldn't want it any other way.