Jenna: 1 Sexism: 0

I feel empowered today. Why? Well let me tell you how my day went.

This morning at breakfast I'm eating my bacon when the guy across from me starts talking about the plumbing he has to do today at the gym. He says to Kevin sitting across and one down from me that he is just the guy he is looking for to help him underneath the gym with the work. He says he needs a guy to do this dirty work. Umm...right. Lisa, who is sitting on the guy's other side says that Kevin is staying back today, but any of us could do the job just as well. Then I chime in saying I'll do it, no problem! So then Ben comes walking in and the guy (Brett is his name btw) says that he wants Ben to help him out. Arrg! So I repeat myself, saying that I'll help him out under the building.

Now, I would really rather not be doing plumbing stuff under a building with the spiders and rats, but there is no way that I am going to back down from this. No way. So when he comes into the gym later that morning, I run up to him and say that I'll be helping him out today. He looks at me and says alright.

Let me tell you, folks, today I was a plumber. I soddered for the first time, learned some plumbing terms, got under the building and crawled on my hands, knees and stomach through mud and cobwebs and it felt good. I feel like it was the first hard day's work I'd done in a long time. I guess I was doing a pretty good job too, because he kept complimenting me on picking up his directions so quickly and doing good work. He later told me that Joe, the construction foreman, had told him that I wouldn't last long under the building. That one stung a bit, but Brett said that he'd have to make Joe eat his words now that I had stayed through the whole day.

I don't know if I'll be doing anymore plumbing this week. One of the new volunteers for the week is an actual plumber, so they probably won't need my help. But let me tell you, I had never felt so good about being so utterly dirty at the end of the day. I didn't only prove to those men that a woman could do the job just as well as any man, but I proved to myself that I could do it. Yay me! Yay womankind!