The Women in My Head

I have two children, both girls, both adults now.  I will call them Princess Leia and Wonder Woman, you know... the first and the last. Haha. Anyway, when Princess Leia was in high school and she did something silly. She would tell me that "the Blondes" were in charge on any given day. Upon further investigation into the mind of my imagination rich daughter, I found out she liked to believe she had a group of blondes, a group of brunettes, and a fiery red head (cause you only need one) who were in charge of her brain on any given day. The blondes were silly, playful and carefree. The brunettes were serious, smart, and business-like. The red head, well she was fiery and feisty (things Princess Leia wanted to be but did not believe she was). More often than not the blondes and brunettes ganged up on the red head and locked her in a closest. Then they would proceed to war over who would run the show.  It was anyone's game and everyday was a new opportunity to be in charge. Now, she knows that none of this is true. She is also very aware of the serious amount of stereo-typing involved (we have a family full of awesome women of every hair color). This though is what helped her to understand that she, as a woman, is a very complex being.

I believe most people would agree with the complexity of women as evidenced by this meme I have seen floating around the internet and Pinterest:

It even went so far as to say this is a condensed version. It is ok to laugh...it's funny. We are complex. We are unpredictable. We are soft and we are hard. We are quiet and we are loud. Sometimes we laugh. Sometimes we yell. Sometimes we cry.  And when we are really ticked, we go silent. We experience every degree of emotion, sometimes within minutes. We think about everything at one time. We see and know the name of every color from Crimson to Violet (that's red and purple for you men folk).  

Speaking of men, I have had a number of them tell me they are glad, in fact they thank God they are not women. That's a good thing. We need men; strong, sweaty, simple, handsome, smart, gentlemanly, bug-killing, handy men. Men need women and women need men. That's just the way it is and the sooner we figure that out the better everyone will be. 

I am telling you all of this for a reason. I want you to know about a book we in my Bible study group have been reading. Now before I tell you the name, I am going to warn you. If you are religious, old fashioned, and not ready to be real with yourself and others, stop reading. You will not be interested in this book; it's not for you.  

That said, this is the book:

So far it has been wonderful. It truly is opening us up to see beauty within and grace for every part of each of us. While you are reading it feels like someone has gotten a hold of your private thoughts and written them down. It cuts. It heals. It exposes. It covers. 

Beauty and the Bitch: Grace for the Worst of Me (Amazon) I have included a link in case your are interested. The Kindle version is only like 6 bucks. I love my Kindle by the way! We are going to keep reading and see where it goes and I hope you will check it out too. Tell me what you think. 

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." - Albert Camus