The Stages of Woman

First things first -- thank you to everyone who helped calm me down after the Great Cookie Meltdown of 2010.  After all of that, I went to the gym this morning as planned and ran 8k on the elliptical (on a 10/8, 4/1 crossramp/resistance interval program) in 58 minutes.  I came home and was down .4 lbs.  Who knows what that could be from but at least mentally I know I didn't gain 10 lbs, I didn't undo my progress.  I'm just absolutely mental about everything.  But I'm so incredibly thankful to have my friends who know what it's like.  You all know that it wasn't the cookies (it could have been anything) but it was the panic of undoing my progress, of being the fat girl once again and for ever more.

One person's comment inspired a post, actually.  Shakespeare famously wrote about the Seven Stages of Man.  I wondered what Shakespeare would have writen about all the stages of a woman's body.  If you think about it, our bodies go through radical changes (youth, adolescence, puberty, child-bearing age, maturity, menopause), sometimes so fast that our minds don't even notice the change.  And I think, to a point, we're not encouraged to honor and celibrate those changes.

I'm thinking about the comment, and the friend, and the radical change her body is going through right now.  She's jealous of my body, but for as much as I'm not sure as to whether I want to be a mother, I would love to be pregnant.  Her body is a beautiful factory for new life.  That's something I'm in absolute awe of ((not to mention her two sons are GORGEOUS little boys)).

Celebrities have personal trainers to help them get off the baby weight, but everyone else is left to their own devices.  New moms are told by magazines how to lose the baby weight quickly and get their figure back.  I find that to be a shame.  There's nothing more beautiful and poignant in the world than not just a pregnant woman but a mother and how her body gives her child life from conception to weaning.

I'm reminded of what my mom said about our bodies -- that our bodies were designed to be strong because of the necessities of pregnancy and motherhood.  So too our bodies (and minds) are strong to deal with everything else life has to throw at us.  We just need to open up our minds and hearts to the possibilities that we are stronger than we give ourselves credit for.

[[Addendum:  do I even need to tell you all how many times someone has thought I was pregnant -- asked me how far along I am, whether it's a boy or a girl, if it's my first....]]