The Essence of Being a Woman

What makes a woman a woman? Is it something physical? Something inside? What exactly is it?

Websters dictionary defines femininity as: the quality or nature of the female sex. Wikipedia defines it as: female qualities attributed specifically to women and girls.

Both definitions are good, but neither of them answer the specific question of what makes a woman a woman. This leaves me to wonder if those that have surgery to remove their reproductive organs via a hysterectomy or their breasts via a mastectomy, does this take away from who they are as a woman?

In speaking with many that have been down the hysterectomy road, I am realizing that the answer to this is no. You do not come out of the operating room any less of a woman then who you were when you entered. If this is true, why then, do I feel like I will be someone I do not know when I am rolled through those doors after surgery. That I will be an entirely different person. . .

Fear of the unknown is has a tight grip on me right now. The anxiety is nearly out of control. I pray that time will pass rather quickly until March 3 and then I will wake up afterwards and realize first hand just how wrong I was. . .