cultivating the beautiful ordinary by sharing our tales and our tables
Red Tent Living is a community of women from across the world reading, writing, reflecting, and responding to one another daily as we reframe what it means to be feminine. We welcome you to join in the conversation and submit your own work!
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Purpose: Once a month gatherings for 6-8 women that include enjoying a meal together and taking time to share pieces of their lives with one another. It is a place where believers and non believers in Jesus can experience community as they find connection in unexpected ways with one another.
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On a rainy mid-pandemic Sunday afternoon the call came. A mutual Virginia friend uttered the words, “I heard about Charlotte. I know you were dear friends. I’m so sorry.” A driver high on meth had crossed the double yellow lines, hitting her head-on as she drove into town to sing for a virtual church service.…
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Much of my adult life has felt like a walking billboard for a “Never Say Never!” campaign. Whether it’s going back to school to get my Master’s degree, having two kids under two, living in the state of Ohio, or becoming a person who runs outdoors on a regular basis by choice, I’ve learned that…
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Self-care has been a buzz word for awhile now. The origins are rooted in the rise of the women’s and civil rights movements. Originally, seeking good care for your body was a declaration of freedom and autonomy. To care for your underpaid, undermined, often misused body required women and people of color to turn towards…
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I cannot breathe. Try to inhale– breath doesn’t come. My chest won’t rise. My throat is tight. Swollen. Shut. Although I try, I just can’t breathe.
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I’ve always struggled to connect with other women, especially groups of women. While I’ve usually had a “bestie” in whom I could confide, I always had the impression that many other women found me to be a little too much. Which is funny, because I am probably the most introverted person in my family. Sometimes…
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“I can see it’s difficult for you to take a deep breath,” said my massage therapist as I attune to the calming scent of the lavender essential oil diffusing from her office. I notice my shallow breathing and the tenuous task of attempting to breathe through my diaphragm. My nervous system stays on guard, scanning…
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I once knew a girl who was free. She wasn’t weighed down by worry or shame, and she got lost in adventures led by her fearless feet. Occasional scrapes and snags were part of the passion. Mending her wings seemed to require just a little rest, and then she’d fly off again. I long for…
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For the month of November the women of Red Tent Living will be considering the theme, “Mending Wings”. We hope you will join us by reading along, and by hosting a table of women to share stories provoked by this theme.
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We cross the Bosphorus Strait via a steamer ferry that has been running nonstop for decades, so we can wander through my old neighborhood. Europe to Asia. Two continents split a city that knows more splits than I can count. On the hill above, the newest and biggest mosque is rivaled in height by the…
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Everyone prepares you for the feelings that accompany your child’s first birthday, but no one prepares you for the emotional tidal wave that hits on their second. Or at least no one warned me. My daughter turned two on Friday, and amidst the celebrations and fanfare, I found myself in tears nearly every day leading…
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