cultivating the beautiful ordinary by sharing our tales and our tables
It’s 3:30 a.m. I’m tossing a turning again, beads of sweat rolling between my shoulder blades and breasts…again. I forgot to take magnesium when I was winding down for the evening…again. I’m dreading the alarm clock going off in just a few short hours and waking up groggy to the never-ending list of tasks that…
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“Suck it in girls.” I tighten my core and smile as a group of mothers coach my friends and me on how to stand for our homecoming pictures. As a 33-year-old woman looking back on these photos, I wonder, what was there to make smaller? A 14 year old who had barely passed puberty, I…
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I take a good hard look in the mirror and suck in a huge gulp of air. I am getting ready to step into the shower and have just stepped off the scale. The chaos of bed hair and a NyQuil-induced sleep blink back at me underneath the glow of the unforgiving bathroom lights. My…
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Me: Okay, so what if I gave you the chance to speak to take up space and what if I just listened? To your experience To your side of the story? Would you be honest with me? Would you want to speak? Essentially, I am asking: Do you feel safe with me?
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More grey splashes against dark curls. Cheeks sag and skin spots darken. Aging creeps in with Crow’s feet around my eyes.
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“I’m a queen, Mama,” my daughter declares, looking up at me as I help her into her favorite sparkly twirling dress. Her eyes glow with the same determined assurance that comes through in her voice when she stands transfixed by a ninja warrior performance and declares with calm certainty, “I could do that.” As we…
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The door gently shut behind your back as you made your way into the bathroom. Placing your toes on the back of the opposite tennis shoe, you slipped each heel off and shoved them under the counter. They are dirty and torn, but they take you where you need to go. You patted each pocket…
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I am moving through the class movements when I hear our instructor Anna say to the yoga class, “Relax your shoulders and pull your tongue back from the roof of your mouth.” It takes a few seconds to register what she is saying, and then I notice my tongue is, in fact, stuck to the…
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My breath came in short, labored bursts, reflecting the intensity of the circuit workout my friend and I were making our way through. I told her I’d begun “hiking” on the treadmill set at a steep incline, practicing for the mountain hikes on the itinerary for an upcoming trip as couples to celebrate our friends’…
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Black spandex leggings—“Spanx”—hug her tightly. The wide waistband at the top stretches across her abdomen, smoothing and holding her core. On top she wears a long-sleeved black top, silhouetting her curves nicely. The rust and burgundy crushed velvet flowers covering her duster make a bold statement as she walks.
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