Growing Up – Red Tent Living

On the subject of love, legs, and femininity.

By: redtentwomen July 31, 2019August 1, 2019

FemininityAdolescence Girls, Body image, Growing Up, Katy Johnson, Learning to shave, loving your body, Middle school girls9 Comments

Hairy kneecaps. The first time my body became “my body”—a thing separate from me—was at 6thgrade lunch period when Hannah Wiessgarber informed me Paul Ferris would never date me because I had hairy kneecaps. She’d asked him about me, and his answer, given in the presence of the other 7thgrade boys, had been, according to…

Broken Identity

By: redtentwomen April 19, 2019April 18, 2019

Day to Day, FaithAbuse, Change, EE Cummings, Growing Up, Naming, Rebecca Gonsalves, Recovery from Abuse8 Comments

I grew up never liking my name. It wasn’t that my name was anything unusual or difficult to pronounce. I was just never fond of it. I remember sitting in school as my teachers would “call roll” imagining that my name would have been one of my fellow classmates. When you have a three syllable…

Darling Mom

By: redtentwomen January 11, 2019January 9, 2019

Day to Day, Femininity, relationshipsDarling Mom, Growing Up, Jill Dyer, Mothering, Needing a Mom14 Comments

“I don’t need you, MOM! I don’t need you!” I hear this screamed by a large, fit, and well-dressed man. He is a study in contradiction. He has a large pack which suggests to me that he could be homeless. He is huge, more than six feet tall. He appears mentally ill. He is screaming…

Fruit Cocktail

By: redtentwomen November 8, 2018November 8, 2018

Day to Day, relationshipsAdverse Childhood Experiences, Becky Allender, Growing Up, Mono-Eater, Play, Stability19 Comments

As a child, a dark closet was the safest ground to play with my dolls. My mother was not a cruel woman, but she didn’t play, nor did she give room for anything other than work. She grew up in the aftermath of the Great Depression with a mother who gave two of her children…

Ragtag Courage

By: redtentwomen August 3, 2017August 2, 2017

Day to Day, Intentional LivingGrowing Up, Joanna Wilder, Neighborhood Ministries, Phoenix, Recovery from Abuse5 Comments

The word “instigate” means “to bring about, as by incitement or urging; to urge on to some drastic or inadvisable action.” Sounds sinister, doesn’t it?

Labor Pains.

By: redtentwomen October 5, 2016October 6, 2016

Intentional LivingChanging Seasons, College, courage, Empty Nesting, Firstborn to College, Grief, Growing Up, Letting Go, Susan Tucker14 Comments

“Life is a balance between holding on and letting go.” ~ Rumi

Grown Up Things

By: redtentwomen October 5, 2015October 4, 2015

Day to DayDeanna Sturgeon, doing hard things, facing conflict, Grandmother, Growing Up, Mothering boys1 Comment

My daughter-in-law called me the other day and said, “Please talk to Isabelle (my almost 5 year old granddaughter). She’s freaking out because she’s not a baby anymore.”

You Can Go Home

By: redtentwomen July 13, 2015August 1, 2015

Intentional LivingBecky Allender, Childhood, Growing Up, High School, Nostalgia, Reunion34 Comments

Thomas Wolfe wrote a novel entitled: You Can’t Go Home Again. Indeed, you can. It was our 45th high school reunion and, as usual, I had to encourage my husband to go.