Pondering the Feminine

Something big is going down. It's the emergence of the feminine. At least we're getting everyone's attention. There's recognition for Mother Earth whether you believe global warming is urgent or eventual, there's the awakening of the spiritual in everyday speak, literature, advertising, television, etc. A woman speaker of the House and finally a woman with a slipper on the White House trail. Questioning, yes, that's it and while we're at it, questioning where this man's world is taking us.

This man's world that I've been living in poisoned with the brain washed women, no different than some of the women without wanting more rights in Muslim cultures. We perpetuate it here too. I'm going down memory lane and I can remember so vividly my hospital stay after the birth of my second child, Jacqueline. I had given birth 20 months prior to my eldest, Nola. This time, I shared a room with a woman who was ecstatic after giving birth to her first child, a son. Her room was filled with relatives most of the time and I sensed something sinister to me but I couldn't figure out what it was. They became awfully quiet as I walked int the room and I could have sworn I caught a look of pity. Then the conversations I heard were all about being so lucky to have a boy. How "I'm off the hook to have another in a hurry" cause I had a boy right away. I didn't get it, what was she talking about. Yes, my husband wanted a son eventually, but his love of his daughters could never be more powerful. I couldn't believe how blessed I was to have two daughters, boy I hit the jackpot. (especially since, after that particularly painful labor, I wasn't even contemplating having another) I was on top of the world.

Next, comes the candlelight dinner the evening before leaving the hospital. The first time, as a couple you can treasure and celebrate this beautiful birth together. A fancy meal is prepared and rolled in while you enjoy it with your baby watching in a bassinette. Our dinner arrives, we start on our first course, all smiles. My roommate's baby is cranky. They really can't enjoy their meal trying to quiet him down. We begin our second course while our daughter Jacqueline (previoursly Gabrielle, for a day) sleeps sweetly and contented. Frustrated roomate shifts baby from mom to dad trying to get the screaming infant to settle down. Sort of a comedy of errors. I tried not to stare but felt very smug as I enjoyed my meal. On the other hand, my husband, Marty laughed out loud being well aware of their attitude.

I always wondered if that roomate ever had another and if she was blessed with a girl as I have been. I remember thinking of this 4 and a half years later in that same room when I gave birth to my son, Grant. Now, I was blessed with a boy, but I still embraced the feminine in that I found out 20 years later that he embraced his.