still alive

Been a long time.  I've been reading.  Reading and thinking.  Planning the wedding, procrastinating, considering options, talking to friends, taking too-long lunch breaks and not returning phone calls within decent amount of time. 

I just finished reading The Secret Life of Bees.  prod1 could not stop raving about this book in her journal, and I loved it so much I want to recommend it to everyone.  It's a heart-wrenching novel that will take you through so many emotions in a single sitting, your senses will feel heightened for hours after you've finally put the book down.  The most poignant messages I got from this book: the sisterhood among women, the divine feminine, and the power of the female body and soul.

It has always surprised me that women are not regarded more highly in every society and community in this world.  After all, women are the nurturers and bearers of life.  Who but a woman can carry the burden of the world?  None but a woman could.  I am not a big believer in the feminist movement, preferring a message of equality over a message of female supremacy, but I do believe strongly that the role women play in life is one that is so important, so critical, that it is almost divine.  Imagine not only being part of the creation of life, but being the sustainer of life until such time as this life becomes able to sustain itself!  Imagine not revering and worshipping the women of the world who have made this possible.  Childbirth, in my opinion, must be the closest to divine humankind can get.  And it is an experience, a responsiblitiy, unique to women.

Reading The Secret Life of Bees I was introduced to the Black Madonna, and a new way of observing the power and the love that women embody and represent.  The idea of sisterhood, of the bonds that hold us together, of the need for the companionship and the empathy that only another woman can provide, was driven home to me in a way I have never considered before.  It made me think of my friends, and all the sisterhoods of which I am or have been a part.  It is humbling to call to mind the caliber of women I've had the fortune to connect with, and it's exciting to think about the women I have yet to meet.  It gave me a new respect for my friends, as well as a new appreciation for their trials and accomplishments.  It allowed me to give the females in my life more credit for being who they are and for exhibiting time and time again the courage it takes to be a woman in a world that has made a practice of belittling a woman's role.