Hello, and welcome to Mama the Reader! I’ve had this little corner of the internet for seven years now, and it has grown from a tiny journal recording everyday moments to a sacred space where I’ve chronicled considerable personal revolutions. A more detailed version of that story is here if you’d like to read about it.
I’ve written myself through some dark times and joyful moments, too. It’s my hope to share some of these reflections with you and brighten your path a little in the same way that other writers have opened up my own heart. If you like what you read and would like to receive an email each time I post, you can do so by signing up here.
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I write about everything from food to parenthood to books to gratitude. But many of my most notable entries focus on divorce and beginning my walk as a single parent. Everyone’s path to healing is different, and I’m grateful I’m recording mine here to share with you. I have a number of reflections gathered in the categories of divorce or single parenthood, and some especially notable ones are listed here:
- first came the discomfort of embracing my new reality
- then eventually a shift in perspective emerged a bit
- I began to wake up to things I didn’t see before
- it’s shed the skin for a raw honesty in my writing
- and last year, I wrote an essay for Sweatpants and Coffee that details a life-changing lesson I learned in the process.
About 16 months after my former husband left, my grandmother passed away. She was My Person, as people say sometimes, my soul sister in ways I can hardly describe. I am still seeing the ways that both her presence and her loss are shaping who I become, but I wrote my way through her transition to the other side in the same way that I wrote my way to a new life the year prior. You can read that story here, here, and here.
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Aside from my recent writing on divorce and life changes, these are the old entries that mean the most to me.
- my thoughts on fathers (not what was expected, but it’s part of my story just the same)
- my reflections on what it means to be a southerner
- the birthday letters I write my kids
- my VBAC post and the amazing experience that came from that
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I also love to see new places and things, and I’ve written a little here about my travels with my kids, Jude and Norah, and a few travels alone.
Costa Rica and more Costa Rica 2011
Pacific Northwest and Vancouver 2011
Aruba and more Aruba 2013
Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, North Carolina
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Thanks so much for reading, and I value your feedback and the sense of community that results from sharing my reflections. If you have thoughts or questions you’d like to share that are too long or personal for a comment, you can contact me at mamathereader [at] gmail dot com.
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What a brave young woman you are. I live in Oregon and stumbled across your article on “Alternet” today on FB. I had to read more of your wonderful writing and found your blog. My heart aches for what you and your children have endured. You are a shining example of how to respond for all women who have been treated in this way. Your children are so lucky to have you as their Momma.
After being with my husband for 39 years (with two grown and successful children), I can say that no marriage lasts unless both are equally committed to working their butts off (including therapy) to sustain it. Staying together is hard, but oh so worth it for all involved in the long run. Leaving is easy. I do think there is a fundamental flaw in a person who can cheat and throw it all away, and recent research confirms this. It’s not fair, but there it is.
All the best to you.I spent half of my teen years in north Georgia and worked as a life guard one summer at Unicoi State Park when Xavier Roberts first began selling Cabbage Patch Kids at the gift shop there. Ahh memories.
Hi, Lorrie! Thanks so much for reading and for your kind words. Such a fun connection to North Georgia all the way from Oregon. 🙂
I’m so enjoying your posts. I spent high school in Gainesville, college at UGA where I met my husband, then more college for both of us in Atlanta and Augusta (where our first was born). Left Georgia in ’84 and have since lived all over the world. Wishing you all the best and go get ’em in the dating world. It is a jungle out there, but you will be fine. Good luck!
i love that you write letters to your kids on their birthdays. I also do that with my son who’s birthday is in november and recap our ups and downs of that year along with all the fun things we did and how he’s grown. It’ll be a beautiful thing for them to read when they get to the age where they can appreciate the love a parent has for a child. 🙂