Mulling It Over

After much thought pondering the words my friend posted on her blog, I've come to the following conclusions (bear with me, I'm going to ramble a bit):

• Men and women are NOT the same at all. We are different physically, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically.
• As such, there are things that men can do that women cannot and vice versa
• With this fact, I understand why it was such a fight to be treated equally. If I am softer, rounder, smaller, than my husband/father/brothers it stands to reason that I simply "could not" do things.
• I am emotionally wired to be a caregiver. No matter what else I do, where I've worked, learned etc, I am always going to look for ways to care fo those around me.
• As the mother of my children, I will, therefore, be the one who is more aware of certain things than my husband, or even other parents

Those things said, I don't think that being different means being less than. Just because I cannot physically do some things does not mean that I should not be allowed to attempt them. Simply because a woman chooses NOT to pursue motherhood should not relegate her to a status of dependent, or 'poor relation'. just because a man does not marry, or pursue parenthood, does not mean he is somehow superior, special, or "free".

I know I'm not making sense, but it really bothers me that somewhere along the way, we as women decided that in order to be "equal", we had to sacrifice that which made us different in the first place.

I've been checking out a new blog, over at Bring Pretty Back and have to say that I'm completely on board with her. Without ruining it for you, her basic premises are that there's nothing wrong with being feminine and investing time in our outward appearance. It's somewhat akin to Mrs. Ordinary's Hot Mama Revolution.

I think that there is a reason that most of the ladies I know desire things to be neat, tidy, clean, pretty, attractive...that we're attracted to things that are shiny, sparkly, shimmery, and smell good...and that it is totally ok to pursue and create those things in our world. There's a reason we want furniture that was built to be together in a room, pillows that are soft on a couch that is pleasing to our eye, books, plants, collectibles, family heirlooms, towels, towel bars, candles, flowers, plants, something other than off-white paint on our walls, and cute shoes in our closets.

And I think it's high time we embrace exactly what it is that makes us different from our husbands who seem to want physical combat, battles, strategies and things that go faster, make louder noises, and exude power...

SO, take some time and invest in yourself - get your hair done, find a new color of lip gloss or lipstick (or just a shade to begin with) and put that outward polish on each day this week. Make the effort each day between now and August 4th to do something special each day.

My goal is to make sure that I actually style my hair, not just blow it dry to keep it out of my eyes, every day this next week.

And I'm pulling out that pair of heels that makes my legs look awesome and I'm wearing them, along with something soft and feminine to Church this weekend. I don't care if it's supposed to be over 97 this weekend, I'm wearing a dress or skirt with hose and those shoes...and accessories.

Will you join me in Bringing Pretty Back?