The Day I Liked Women

Halloween marks the one year anniversary of The Day I Liked Women. (Stay with me.)

You see I haven’t always liked women.  I liked individuals, but our gender as a whole really disappointed me.   We could be catty, vain, whiny, jealous, easily offended and easily hurt.  (I’ve never met a man that was offended his buddies didn’t invite him to lunch.) We cared about stupid stuff and we wanted to be liked.  We gossiped and compared and judged and never gave ourselves enough credit.  (I’ve never met a man who felt inadequate after reading a blog post…)  We were insecure and needed other’s approval.  We cried too much and remembered way too long.  I felt women were weak.

Then I had a moment last Halloween that changed my feelings:

It was a typical Halloween– crazy.  My husband was down in bed with strep throat.  So I was on my own and I had a family party to get to.  I needed to get 4 little kids in  Halloween costumes including make-up and hair.  Plus take pictures.

That would have been enough, but I also had to get myself ready as a witch– complete with purple eyelashes.

And make a soup and collect supplies for my “Pin the Wart on the Witch” game for the family party.

Plus I had to gather all the costume props, treats, bags, jackets and umbrellas.  Several loads to the car later, we were finally headed to my sisters.  (Did I mention it was pouring rain by this point?)  When we arrived I had to unload everything– the crockpot, the posterboard, the cauldron, the diaper bag, the baby, the costumes, etc. etc.  etc. in the down pour.

It was at this time that  I was struck with AWE for us–  not for me- but for all women.  I stopped in my tracks.

I couldn’t believe what women do on any given day, let alone a holiday. I had a moment of respect for all that we do for our husbands, our children, our friends, our neighbors, our churches, and our schools.

I realized, women aren’t weak…we are strong.  We live lives of unselfishness and service and kindness despite our lack of sleep, time, money, energy, and balanced hormones.  We sacrifice and give so much with little accolades or appreciation. Yes, as women, we do have weaknesses, (and I want us to work on those), but there is so much good that we do in this world.