cultivating the beautiful ordinary by sharing our tales and our tables
*This post is from a sexual abuse survivor; it may be triggering for some readers. This is my Red Tent truth, my Red Tent story. This is and was “The Mother” in my life. The person who birthed me, whose publicly portrayed image I adored, but whose private reality would horrorify any humane person. I…
Read More
My heart races as I descend the stones thrown recklessly at the edges of the earth. These coastal boulders are mighty as they break the waves, which threaten to wash away the trees and green shrubs, homes of bears and cougars. Whoever tossed them aside was very angry.
Read More
Dear Job, Were the effects of your trauma immediately healed when you heard from God that day? Did your lamenting and honesty with Him protect you from PTSD?
Read More
“Your destiny is never tied to anyone that left you.” — Thomas D. Jakes Your destiny is important, though sometimes people can’t see it, so they overshadow you with their own ambition. They place you last. They never listen. Your ideas are only valuable as long as they benefit. Often deemed charming narcissistic personality types,…
Read More
Every Body – Any Body All are welcome – HERE! In this moment, there is peace. You are free to lay your burden down. What is the name of the weight you carry so patiently on those strong and weary shoulders? What are the accusations, those judgments, shouting and whispering to you?
Read More
She looked at me with tears in her eyes, as if she was seen for the first time. Between the tissue sopping up her wet face and deep sighs, she said, “I don’t know what I did wrong. I can’t escape his mental and emotional manipulation even though we aren’t even together anymore. I’ve been…
Read More
In my life I have often found that the thing I most desperately long for in others is the quality I am longing for within myself. I have wanted to feel safe. I have wanted friendships that I could trust. I have wanted friends that I could depend on. I have longed at times to…
Read More
I arrive with great hesitance. The unknown is scary and the pain of reopening partially-healed wounds has me on guard. I am warmly welcomed with hugs. The chairs are formed into a circle. I quietly choose a chair and have a seat in the circle of grief. I look around the circle at the women…
Read More
I had been driving around the neighborhood, circling the same streets for almost thirty minutes, until I reached a point of no longer being able to bear the weight of what I was trying to escape. My friend Cassandra was on the phone with me, listening as I talked with panic in my voice and…
Read More
Finally. After weeks of pain shooting up my spine and into my neck, I was finally getting some relief. I had been okay with makeshift back-cracking mechanisms—over my desk chair, bending over with my arms pushing against the wall until I felt a crrrriiiickkk go up my back—but that could not go on any longer.…
Read More