Photo courtesy of Paul Keller

Being the only female tagged by Nico over at pro Health blog for this meme, A Six Word Memoir, I thought I’d talk about the wonders of being a woman.

I’m all in favor of making connections—ones I’ve already made and new ones I’m making now, which is why I like a good meme.

In that vein here’s my take of what being a woman means to me:

Motherhood – My first daughter was born on a bright summer day. It was the happiest day of my life, that is, until daughter’s two, three, and four were born.

For a six year period, I was either pregnant or nursing a child. When they were babies, my favorite time of the day was the middle of the night feedings when we would have time all to ourselves.

I took to being a mother from day one; reading everything I could about babies and motherhood. I tried to treat each of my kids with respect, and taught them morals and values in order to provide for them a strong foundation from which they could build lives for themselves.

As any parent knows, it isn’t always easy, but the joy of participating in the life of a child creates memories that live forever.

My children are older now, they have their own lives, and I couldn’t be prouder of the individuals they’ve turned out to be.

Anti - Feminist – When I had my children, feminism touted the freedom of choice women had, but those freedoms came with a catch—in other words that freedom of choice only existed if you choose the feminist point of view. I made the conscious choice to stay home with my children to raise them full time.

But the feminist movement frowned on my alleged “lifestyle” because I didn’t choose the working mom cum career woman route.

But from where I come from, we embrace the notion that people touting freedom of choice should also embrace everyone’s point of view. Apparently, according to the “feminists,” I was wrong.

Since I wanted to be my children’s primary caregiver, for 10 years–from the time my first daughter was born until my last daughter went into preschool–I stayed home, doing all the traditional activities a traditional stay-at-home mom does.

The feminist’s ideology espoused that I was supposed to feel that I was less of a woman, even if my choice was to stay at home and raise my children.

No matter.

The ironic thing was that I had and continue to have the greatest respect for women who chose to work outside the home–because it was their choice.

Be that as it may, from that time on, I have never considered myself a feminist.

Entrepreneur – Don’t let the statistics fool you– there are a few of us female entrepreneurs around.

I work almost 100 hours a week in various capacities in order to keep Iowa Avenue fresh, alive, and growing—and I love every minute of it. It’s a labor of love.

For those of you who don’t already know, I created, designed and funded Iowa Avenue and as well, Weight1Minute ™ , an online automated software for personalized and customizable tailored solutions for the complex issues of overweight, nutrition, wellness, exercise, and obesity related problems, so that people can achieve healthy lifestyles.

W1M ™ is currently going through a major software upgrade which includes a whole new look, an upgraded profile page, enhanced charts and graphs, new recipes, and an API for use with Iowa Avenue, Facebook, and other social networks. I’m excited!

So if you think being an entrepreneur is totally dominated by males, you’d be wrong.

It’s about a healthy lifestyle – Being and staying healthy is a major part of being female. Although we, of course, have similarities to males, we as well have unique characteristics to us.

While being mindful of all of the standard health advice given to us all, such as:

• Eating healthy
• Exercising
• Not smoking
• Getting enough rest

We have to deal with unique female health issues such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, body image, depression, and a myriad of other issues.

Typically not only do we tend to take charge of our family’s health and well-being, we almost always take responsibility for the necessary cooking, cleaning, laundry, kids, and the basics of household maintenance.

It’s almost always a juggling act, everyday, for women to find time to take care of themselves.

Staying healthy and being a woman sometimes have problems intersecting—that’s one reason I started my companies, Iowa Avenue–to give women a place to talk, connect, and support each other with their health issues. Of course men were not excluded, obviously, from my reasoning.

The ringer is, although I created and started it, it’s the community that has made Iowa Avenue what it is today.

Although being a woman means much more to me, I wanted to highlight these four items.

What does being a woman mean for you? How do you view yourself as a woman? If you’re not a woman, what uniquely male issues do you want to talk about?

Now it’s my turn to pass the torch and tag five other people whose response I’m looking forward to hearing.

Diana – Iowa Avenue’s Ask the Dietitian – who is a friend and a great supporter of Iowa Avenue and Weight1Minute

Sandy - Momisodes – a great mom who practices being the best mom everyday and has the guts to blog the truth

TB - TB’s Journey~ - a family man who lost a hell of a lot of weight and helps keep us on our toes

Crabby - Cranky Fitness – I love her take on food, fitness, and just plain life

Chris - chrisbrogan.com – a social media guru who I greatly respect and has taught me a lot

Carol - The Queen Size Commentary – a fellow Iowa Avenue member, my walking buddy from Walker Tracker, and a woman who helps keep me accountable, because

It’s about a Healthy Lifestyle!

© Iowa Avenue