I AM WOMAN. HOW DO I GET MY WOMAN ON?

“Oh yes I am wise. But it’s wisdom born of pain. Yes, I’ve paid the price. But look how much I gained. If I have to, I can do anything. I am strong (strong). I am invincible (invincible). I am woman.” I am Woman… Helen Reddy

Sitting on the porch after a hard day of everything and quite simply nothing. Sharing all the details that women pass around freely.  We easily spit out what our lives mean at that very moment. Speak that men could not be a party too. Words flying, drinks poured, women, talking to women. Nothing is like it nor ever will be. A truth, a sameness, a knowing, we are women. A foreign language, a secret code, a club of words.

We were kicking back after a day of wine, and to beat all riding horses in blazing heat through Oregon vineyards. It was the perfect summer day. No gotta do lists that involved taking care of other people, it was just us pieriod. No ball scratching, or game scores it was just chicks being who they were flat out real sista.

Sitting in the shade the air that was thick with heat melting our worries. Yes, I pulled off my top to lay in front of me, showing an ounce of propriety.

Relishing with the end of our day, tucked away in a woman’s club that speaks the truths but tells no one. We vent about our woes and share self-miss givens. Laugh about dumb choices we had made and the crap we used to put up with, but no longer do. It is brilliant, it is what I just had, it is women.

 Total honesty, being right about the dents of our days and the glories of our lives.  To be able to moan or brag, we sit on our high-horse or cry about our failed attempts.

We easily lift our glasses one more time, cheers! The same cheers I had heard a half dozen times on that glorious summer day. Clink goes the glasses, smiles offered up, unison with women.  This time to gratitude, damn yes cheers to that!

Many lessons are wrapped up in shopping days where we have the perfect skirt and just the right vase to show off our home-grown roses. Where style matters but we don’t give a flying leap what anyone thinks.

A plane ride away is nothing compared to the love I feel for these girls. Thank God I have my posse of great gals in my hometown, but these Oregon babes rule.

They know my worries and help me find my truth they will speak to me with bold honesty to turn my ship around if that is what is best for me. Grace abounds when what comes from a smart tongue is followed with a loving heart.

I can count on them to be straight up. Yes, we party, laugh at ourselves, and after conquering the world; we of course fiddle the day away with just one more, cheers! On a porch in the blazing heat with bras coming off as women would do everywhere, we melt into our now. Not caring if the neighbors pass by but glad, they did not look too closely.

We have been in the trenches with husbands, children, jobs, life. We’ve known hardships that have taught us to secure our boundaries. Our time is precious and we choose to have it be what we want. We have made it to the other side earning more kindness, compassion, confidence.

My Mantra: “Let us learn who we are and who we can be. We are women.”