I Am No Goddess

This brotherhood of women - odd that I would even think to start with this phrase. How can women be a brotherhood? Why is it that the worst thing I can say about myself is that I run like a girl, throw like a girl, think like a girl?

What a prejudicial, terrible way to think -- when I am a girl. Well, I am actually so much more than a girl. I am the grape ripened on the vine who has already endured the sun and the plucking, the stomping and the straining. I have been on the shelf to age for some time now. I am a woman.

Just a taste of me and you will know the difference. Every drop of me is full bodied and heady on the tongue. Your palate will quiver as my fragrance bursts into bloom. Your mind will remember me as one of a kind, because I am.

I am more than giggles and adoring eyes. You cannot pour me out of a bottle, decanting away my earthly parts as if they are so much sludge. Every part of me contributes to the person I am. Every single drop of me is dark and rich and bold.

I am the sum of all the women and men who came before me. I am the sacred vessel chosen to bring new life into this world, new hopes, new possibilities. I do run like a girl, my hips are designed to carry life. I do throw like a girl, my collar bones are designed to carry and caress and work close to my body. And I most certainly think like a girl.

I am a life giver, a nurturer. I can and will do whatever is necessary to bring the life around me into fruition, but I am only a woman. I am no goddess. I make mistakes, but I learn from them. I change my mind, because the road twists and turns. I find strength in my sisters who walk beside me, because when all is said and done; we have much more in common than otherwise.