I sent off a reply email to my friend Sarah, typing out a fast thank you (because she is always helping me) and then I said, THIS WEEK. I was referring to the fact that I will see her in just a matter of a couple of days, in San Diego at the Storyline Conference. Months ago we were like “yeah, maybe we should just go to that, together!” And we registered pretty impulsively cause that’s how we roll, and now it’s here. Today I sat for a moment thinking that maybe I’m a little nervous. But it’s Sarah, so that doesn’t make a lot of sense, while it also makes sense. You know how we used to get to know people? In person or snail mail or the phone, that was it. NO INTERNET, our kids won’t believe it! And I can remember having a pen pal and I felt like I […]
My love affair with Kate Hopper’s first book, Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers is clear–I mention it often. It is a book for every writing mother to carry with her through the years, a resource filled with valuable advice and encouragement. Now, Kate has released her memoir Ready for Air, and it is a beautiful example of what a mother can do when she “uses her words”. Kate’s daughter was born prematurely and needed to stay in the NICU, battling for life. So many families have experienced this painful journey, waiting and hoping, fearing and waiting. Kate writes beautifully, with humor and candor, of her own painful struggle to accept life’s terms when it came to the wait; to motherhood’s harsh introduction. One of the gifts that Kate’s book brings is an opportunity for every NICU to carry this book, to give to parents who are sitting in the struggle, waiting, watching the monitors, […]
Of course I could relate to the particular excerpt I’m about to share with you. Motherhood surprised me in so many ways, and for so many of us it is the very way that we come to the end of ourselves to begin again. Especially if our babies come along with needs beyond what we had imagined, only feared. Please welcome my friend, Gillian… ::::: An adapted excerpt from Sun Shine Down, a memoir, about a pastor’s wife and missionary’s human reaction to having a baby with Down syndrome: One night after four or five glasses of wine, I climbed upstairs from the basement in search of Polly. The house seemed to be in a dream state. My head was swirling, and I swallowed often, forcing the acid from the wine crawling up my esophagus back down. The light above the kitchen sink highlighted my path into the living room; the glow […]
