Category: personal essay

No Cheese on Anything
Posted on by lisah Posted in Motherhood, personal essay
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No Cheese on Anything

If Facebook documented my relationship with food instead of my husband it would say “It’s Complicated.”

I used to like food. I grew up helping my mom cook, sitting on the counter while my Mamaw made biscuits, and perusing the aisles of the grocery store during our weekly visits.

Cooking dwindled during college except for the rare occasion in a dark dorm basement with rusty pots. But my love for feeding myself and the people I cared about revived when I got married and we moved into our first small apartment.

The kitchen and living room were just one open end of the apartment with the stove tucked next to the sink. There was no counter space beside the stove, that was on the other side of the table around a wall beside the refrigerator but that didn’t bother me. I told myself it had atmosphere.

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We’re All Older Women
Posted on by lisah Posted in Faith, personal essay, Womanhood
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We’re All Older Women

I’ve never been a good fangirl. When I was at Declare Conference in July I did go talk to Kat Lee because when else am I going to meet Kat Lee? At Influence Conference last year I had my picture taken with Ruth Simons and Erin Loechner. But as much as I admire these ladies and learn different things from them I know they are just women. They’ve wanted to pull their hair out in frustration at ten in the morning when the baby is crying and a toddler is clawing at their legs. They’ve had to apologize to their husband more than once (a day) because of a bad attitude or a snippy tone. They’ve also gone to bed at night discouraged with where they are in life and how much they have left to learn.
 
They are just like me and they are just like you. However, I’m thankful that they don’t allow that to stop them from sharing what they’ve learned. They don’t let the fact that they’re human keep them from using the talents God’s given them to help others. They keep writing, keep podcasting, keep painting because they have a story and they want to help people.
 
Phylicia and I receive quite a few emails from podcast listeners who lament that they don’t have advisers. There’s no one in their lives to ask their questions about sex, motherhood, and marriage. There’s no one willing to invest in their lives and get involved and see the mess and not run away.
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Dear Woman Who’d Like to Change the Past
Posted on by lisah Posted in Faith, Family, personal essay
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Dear Woman Who’d Like to Change the Past

If I could go back to college I’d pick a different major.
 
I took an art class my freshman year and my teacher strongly encouraged me to at least pursue an art minor. Did I? No. I had an English teacher who invited me to several higher level classes she was teaching but I declined those opportunities as well.  (My biology teacher also wanted me to major in biology but I think everyone’s glad I turned that down.)
 
I had a major. I had a plan. That plan involved finishing school and getting married.
 
So I graduated a semester early with a double major in Public Health and Secondary Education. I had no intentions of teaching, although I did finish student teaching. I was considering a graduate degree like the one at I found at the Universitiy of Tennessee at the time combining Nutrition and Public Administration.
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What You Don’t Tell Your Friends about Parenting
Posted on by lisah Posted in Motherhood, personal essay
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What You Don’t Tell Your Friends about Parenting

His little eyes stared straight ahead even though he knew I was looking at him. I nuzzled his face with my nose then kissed his cheek. In return, he giggled and licked the end of my nose. Bedtime is often the balm for my soul. Spending just a few minutes with each boy giggling on his bed about his own personal funny reminds me of all the good parts of motherhood. They’ve been easy to forget lately.
 
I called Micah’s doctor late Tuesday afternoon last week and told him sick day regime wasn’t going to cut it. Micah was ok right that moment, might be ok hours later at bedtime, but most certainly would not be ok in the morning. After a brief conversation about fluid intake, how often he peed (the glorious things you discuss as a parent), and how he was acting, we decided to take him to the ER for fluids.
 
One of the few good things about having done this before is that we’ve streamlined the process. His doctor called the ER. Justin came home to stay with the little boys. I packed a bag and changed my clothes. We hit the doors of the ER and they ushered us on back, no triage thankfully because no problem would have been registering yet.
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One Lie about Creativity + An Introduction
Posted on by lisah Posted in creativity, personal essay
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One Lie about Creativity + An Introduction

When I was young I often crept out of the house with a bag slung over my shoulder. The bag was full of the same things I would gladly fill a bag with now: notebooks, pencils, a sketchbook, whatever I was reading. I would sit on some rocks overlooking our pond and read and write. It was a moody scene. I was a moody. If I was lucky so was the weather. I wrote moody scenes of crashing water, anticipated storms, and angry people. I scribbled on those papers- terrible drawings and poems- alternating between loving what I made and hating it for not being better.
 
At some point in high school I put the paper aside for chemistry and Spanish and geometry. I played volleyball and basketball and sung in the choir. I still loved notebooks but they mostly sat empty. A crowded mind and schedule have a hard time making from scratch.
 
My first semester of college I took an art class. I loved parts of it but a two and half hour drawing class bored me by the end. I was thrilled to run across campus with my big paper porfolio and burn some energy at volleyball practice.
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