My grandmother Mammy

taught me

that men and women

are not created equal.

She believed that women

were superior to men,

created by God

to endure

and withstand

both emotional

and physical pain.

She knew a thing or two

about pain.

I can still hear her today

explaining the birds

and the bees.

Explaining that two

weeks a month, we

women are

reminded by God

that our bodies

are divine vessels.

As His vessel, God has

tasked us

with a week of pain

leading up to our

sacrifice — a week of blood flow.

Those were her words of wisdom,

and I was afraid. But she told me

to be proud. Proud to be chosen.

The pain we live with as women

is why we are superior to men.

A week of pain followed by

a week of blood flow.

Only a woman can

carry and deliver a baby.

Thanks be to God.

Speaking of babies, my grandmother

always promised me that she would

take care of mine, but she

died before they were born.

If I had to describe my grandmother

in a word, it would be:

Pain.