Red Tent Living

You Are Welcome

By: redtentwomen September 24, 2018September 23, 2018

Day to DayHospitality, Hosting Friends, Jill Dyer, Welcoming Guests1 Comment

Hospitality: The friendly and generous reception of guests. I have a love/hate relationship with hospitality. It feels formal with the connotation of performance and I feel unnatural and fake. When I first had children, hospitality was a strange cocktail. I really did want friends in my life. But I also felt pressure to have the…

Familiar

By: redtentwomen September 21, 2018September 20, 2018

UncategorizedAdult Children, Change, Julie McClay, Memory and Kindness, Raising Children3 Comments

This season feels familiar. I find myself repeating these words often. When this happens, I have learned to take notice. It is the start of a new school year. The four children who live at home range in age from 15-10. These are my (not so) littles who are now the ages of the “bigs”…

A Voice Stolen

By: redtentwomen September 20, 2018September 19, 2018

Faith, Intentional Living, Monthly ThemesAbuse, Hope, Motherhood, Recovery, Redemption, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, trauma, Voice8 Comments

Dear Younger Self, I’m sitting in my living room with a deeply affectionate boy in my arms and another sweet boy growing safe inside my body. I can’t help but be curious about who you were so long ago. Were you anything like this stubborn, imaginative two-year old who is now leaping off the couch…

Washed in Wisdom

By: redtentwomen September 19, 2018September 19, 2018

Day to Day, Faith, Intentional Living, Monthly Themesage, childlike, Faith, Grace, Natasha Stevens, Self Acceptance, surfing, Wisdom, WomanhoodLeave a Comment

Where had the summer gone? Faced with so many responsibilities, I walked to the edge of the shore and curled the sand back with my toes. On the surface of the water, I watched my reflection converge with my shadow on the sand. I’m sure I looked silly, standing there watching the kids play, attempting…

Stretch Marks

By: redtentwomen September 17, 2018September 16, 2018

Day to Day, Faith, FemininityAnna Smith, Change, Pregnancy, Restoration, suffering2 Comments

Chris caught the flu near the beginning of my second trimester with Asha. At the time our home was under construction in an attempt to restore decades of mold and wood rot that we unknowingly inherited. Our first house, once a hopeful purchase, had turned into a homeowner’s nightmare, and we could not wait to…

Relative Age

By: redtentwomen September 14, 2018September 13, 2018

Monthly Themes40th Birthday, age, Family, Learning, Mallory Redmond, Motherhood, Parenting, relationships, Wisdom1 Comment

Dusk was falling on another Saturday night in the Chicago suburbs. My siblings and I, all under the age of ten, had been entertaining ourselves during a long, lazy day at home. It was just before dinner and we’d pulled a gigantic floor pillow in front of the couch, jumping like acrobats from the couch…

My Grandmother’s Hands

By: redtentwomen September 13, 2018September 13, 2018

Monthly Themes, relationshipsage, Family, Grandmothers, hands, Janet Stark, Life, old soul, relationships, Wisdom12 Comments

Twenty years ago, Chris and I moved our family back to Michigan, where we both grew up and where most of our family lived. I was glad we took the opportunity after getting married to leave and experience other places and people, and I was also glad to return when we did. By then, we…

More At Peace

By: redtentwomen September 12, 2018September 11, 2018

Day to Day, FemininityAging, Becky Allender, Blue Hair, Gray Hair, Inner Peace, Living at Peace19 Comments

I will always be perplexed as to why hair is so deeply tied to our identity. I also wonder why haircuts, new coloring, or any significant change throws me back to Junior High. I am my body. I am more than my body. But my hair sometimes seems more than me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing…

My Stroke

By: redtentwomen September 10, 2018September 9, 2018

Day to Day, Faith, relationshipsAging, Aphasia, Pat Sloan, Stroke, Stroke Survivor9 Comments

I stared at the round objects I cradled in my hand. Now, what were they? Why was I holding them? They looked so familiar – but what was I to do with them? Still in my pj’s, I wondered, maybe John would know. I’ll just ask him. I looked around for John, the still dashing Naval…

Tattoos or no Tattoos

By: redtentwomen September 7, 2018September 6, 2018

UncategorizedAging, Getting Older, Kindness, Mary Jane Hamilton, Recovery from an Easting Disorder, Tattoo Makeup, Tattoos12 Comments

There are a few things about aging that have surprised me. They are the ones I’ve noticed today that I am sure were not there yesterday. Aging can be as simple as the deepening fine lines around my eyes or the wrinkling of skin on my once taut thighs. I have to admit that the…