Some Ramadan levity.

The other week at the resthome, a retired kitchen manager who I'd never met baked some really nice banana bread for everyone to lift everyone's spirits, and residents all got a slice like in a Ziploc bag, and then there was a big banana bread shaped from like a bundt cake pan that was left out for everyone on a paper plate with tin foil over it on the table in our office, and more than half of it was already gone from the morning shift by the time I got in.

(Later, I took the leftovers home folded into the tin foil, and I noticed a gift sticker on it telling us to enjoy it.)

Anyhow, it was really, really, really good banana bread, and I had like two pieces of it when I got in with my coffee, and I really wanted some more, but I held off to make sure that all of my coworkers had a chance to get some, before I really dug in.

So, later that afternoon, I saw my one (cool) (Muslim) (Ethiopian) coworker, and I was like, "Did you see the banana bread in the office? Save some for yourself for later, it's really good," and she was like, "Yes, I had some, it was good."

Then, she saw that I was confused since it was still Ramadan, and she was like, "I am able to eat now, because it is, it is...", and she made this motion by her belly as if she was searching for words, and then finally she was like, "It is my period."

I was still confused, though, and so I asked her if women can eat during Ramadan if they have their period.

"Yes," she was like.

"Oh," I was like.

Then, after a pause, I started laughing to myself and I could feel myself getting that smile that I get and I was like, "Ramadan is the only time of year, when women are happy to get their period."

She looked at me, and then she just burst out laughing, and she swatted her hand at me like she was batting me away and she was like, "[my first name], you are crazy!".

. . .

(I made sure to phrase the joke with simple words, so that she could understand it on the first go.)