reframing femininity
The echoes of “Black Lives Matter” bounce through the car. My children cradle signs made from foam board. They speak of George Floyd, their awareness growing. A sign that says, “Mexicans for Black Lives” rests in the front passenger seat. I drive. My oldest asks, “Will we be safe at the protest?” I’ve heard the…
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I cried the entire way from the pier in San Diego to the Naval Air Station in Lemoore where I was born, nearly five hours. I was three months old when my dad left on the Oriskany (CV-34) for his second tour in Vietnam. Nine months later he came home and I was walking. I…
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It was a Saturday like any other in San Antonio, Texas — a beautiful, blustery October morning in 2007, the perfect day for our family outing at the zoo — until I discovered a secret so painful, I nearly collapsed. D-Day, I called it. Discovery Day. The day I discovered my husband was leading a…
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I pick up my bright yellow journal with a soft moleskin cover from the coffee table as I sit down for some morning quiet. This book feels more special right now as I notice there are few empty pages and it is nearing its end. It holds bits of my life’s journey the last six…
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I’ve found myself repeating this question to the few people I interact with these days, from a safe distance of course (how odd that we now have to qualify that our interactions with actual humans are safe and socially distanced). This question was brought into my life a few years ago as I dove deeply…
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I will never forget the based-on-a-true-story movie, The Impossible, about a family who, while vacationing in a paradise resort in Thailand, was hit by the 2004 tsunami. The scene that grips me most is when Naomi Watts is reading on a lounge chair and suddenly sensing something is not right. That something terribly powerful is…
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“Courage is being scared as hell and saddling up anyway.” – John Wayne I’m learning to be courageous–to get back up and ride on even though I am scared. In this season I am thankful that fear is not the primary emotion, although it is definitely present in waves. God has been giving me the…
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“Aren’t you afraid they’ll expose you to the virus?” “Are you crazy?” The phone calls from friends and family were kind and filled with concern for our wellbeing. My answers at the time? “Sometimes,” and “No.” Riding in the waves of news of the pandemic, I felt assured in my decision to offer two young…
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I am crumpled up on my kitchen floor, head in hands, hiding beneath a soundtrack of Fernando Ortega and Bifrost Arts, hoping my kids don’t notice I am weeping, It’s holy ground, but it feels like falling apart.
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The pH (acidity) of our blood must be kept within a very narrow range (7.35-7.45) for life to remain viable. Anything outside of this causes our body stress and, sometimes, harm that isn’t reversible. Panic attacks, diarrhea, dehydration, kidney malfunctions, and hundreds of other things can cause the body to become dysregulated. Our bodies are…
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