Sisterhood

As I've tried to figure out how I'll balance my desire to be involved in the community with my desire to stay at home with my babes until she starts school, it's occurred to me more and more how important sisterhood is in raising children.  I am privileged enough to have a loving, supportive partner who shares life and parenting with me, but sisterhood still has its place, a place that my husband can't occupy, a space that is constructed by the very essence of what it means to mother.

My women friends whether mothers or not, whether married or not, whether working or not, all help make my path less lonely and less difficult.  It's hard to describe what its like to be a woman.  I am aware that gender identity, like race is socially constructed in many ways, but that doesn't make it less real.  That fact does not render the strength that comes from engaging in sisterhood void.

I've decided to try to be better at sisterhood.  To do my part to support the women I know, especially the mothers, because I know that without the women in my life, I'd be lost.

Challenges

A friend of mine and I challenged ourselves to not eat fast food for 21 days.  Our primary motivation was health reasons, but in these 21 days I think I've gained a lot more from the challenge than I had initially thought I would.  Below is a picture of a meal I made, one night that I really, and I do mean REALLY wanted to order a pizza and call it a day.

Mexican Millet and Sauteed Veggies w/tomato on the side!

Cooking is not one of my favorite activities.  My husband never cooks, and it quite honestly intimidates me to think that I'll have the responsibility of feeding us for the next fifty, sixty, however many years.  The internet is helpful, I got the recipe from here.  

It has been empowering to not rely on overprocessed foods from who knows where.  The summer means an abundance of local vegetables, and staples can be bought in bulk and stored for long periods of time resulting in what turned out to be a fantastic dinner.

I think my next challenge will be a bit shorter.  I'll start with 10 days of no processed food.  Wish me luck!

Operating in Truth

Sometime close to when my husband and I first started dating, we instituted the honesty movement.  It was basically an attempt to avoid even polite lies.  No longer were we to hide our opinions about things (if asked), no longer were we to mask our intentions or tell lies of any sort.  It was a fun, but sometimes hard challenge for a new couple.  Over time a formal honesty movement subsided and became a "remember way back when" story for a couple of six years and counting.  

From time to time I think about that movement.  I consider reinstituting it with everyone I know.  What seems hard is finding the balance between the desire to share my thoughts and opinions about things with the rights of everyone else to not be subject to my every fleeting thought or emotion.  Just because something is true, doesn't mean it must be shared, right?  Our previous movement was an understanding, that both of us entered into valuing honesty above politeness (and other things).  

Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what I want to say here because I feel mediated by that conflict.  Will anyone even hear what I have to say if my truth doesn't fit their values or worldview.  Do people care to hear my truth?  

Plainly said, I have a blog because I want to be heard.  My intention is always to be honest, and I've written and re-written posts to that end.  Sometimes I've edited myself though, and my goal is to stop doing that.  I am as complex as God made me and that should be reflected here.  

I updated my blog with a new blogger look, and I plan to blog now (more frequently) with a new attitude, one that is more honest and unafraid.