I had an experience a couple summers ago that changed everything for me. That sounds hyperbolic, I know. But every once in a while we have these experiences that slice our lives into before and after, and this was one of those for me.
A friend of a friend invited me on a trip. To a place I’d never been, with a group of people most of whom I’d never met. I didn’t know what to expect, but I did have this sense that there was something waiting for me th..
Most American moms, particularly women of color, don’t fit the stereotypes.
Here’s a common family story among black women in my generation: My grandmother worked as a live-in maid, and my mother lived at numerous relatives’ homes for the first few years of her life so my grandmother could keep her job.
Two generations later, I have a spectrum of choices beyond what was available to my grandmother. I can pursue a fulfilling career, stay home, or find something in between. While I believe women..
3 ways our communities can support mental health.
Speaking at the Democratic National Convention last week, the singer Demi Lovato took advantage of the powerful platform to advocate for mental health care in America. “Like millions of Americans, I am living with mental illness,” she said. “Too many Americans from all walks of life don't get help, either because they fear the stigma or they cannot afford treatment.”
“Mental illness” is a scary-sounding category that encompasses a broad ar..
Editor’s note: In their book Surprised by the Healer, Dr. Juli Slattery and Linda Dillow feature first-person stories from women they’ve interviewed. This excerpt from their book comes from a woman named Kathy.
I snuck into bed, barely moving the covers to avoid arousing my sleeping husband. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking I had succeeded, but before long Scott rolled over and cradled me against his body. I automatically tensed and soon one tear..
When you stand down at the river, the world gets mighty quiet.
Like the mightiness might actually come in the quiet.
My Grandmother never told me that —
But it's what I tell the kids a thousand messy times, though they know I'm the one preaching the gospel of it to myself:
When you're worked up, whisper. It's how God can usher Himself into a place — ask Elijah.
It's best parenting practice. It's best life-survival practice. When the world gets loud, put your ear dow..
I was 39 when my daughter started kindergarten. Elise’s enthusiasm for her new friends led me to volunteer as a chaperone for the pumpkin patch field trip. I chatted with other parents as the children scurried through the classroom putting toys away and grabbing jackets from wall hooks.
Then it happened. The question.
“It's so great you can help,” the young mom started. “Is Elise your granddaughter?”
A sledgehammer would have b..
“I don’t really want to pay four hundred and fifty dollars to drive to practices three nights a week or travel to tournaments on weekends,” Jennifer’s friend Amy bemoaned. “But I feel like I owe it to him.”
And there it was.
Amy had spoken aloud what the nagging, niggling little voice had been hissing in Jennifer’s ear:
You owe it to him.
He deserves it.
All the other kids are doing it.
Other parents are willing to sac..
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
I met these words scrawled on the bathroom wall at a diner in the Twin Cities about a year ago. I found the statement so confronting, so profound, that I felt its truth before I had the chance to process it. All I could do was take a picture of the words, then return to my late night eats with my friend. We talked and people watched into the early hours.
I learned later that the statement came ..
It had been a great morning . . . right up until five minutes before the school bus arrived. That was when things completely fell apart. One daughter suddenly had to go to the bathroom, the other copped a major brat-itude and called me a “Meanie!” Meanwhile, their school shoes were nowhere to be found and neither daughter was listening to anything I was saying.
As the screech of bus brakes signaled its arrival, we barreled outside in full-on sprint mode—me still in my pa..
My husband and I have decided to talk to our son about porn before he starts kindergarten next year.
We may not use the word porn at first. But as we continue to teach him to respect his own body and the bodies of others, we need him to understand that there are images and videos out there that don’t honor the dignity of others and that looking at these pictures can harm him in serious ways.
If this seems a bit premature, consider the statistics on kids and porn. While some s..