Life. Books. Family. Unschooling. Faith.
I have made many mistakes in my life. But having seven children and homeschooling are not any of the mistakes. To erase or to manipulate my history in one swift time machine trip would be to erase the good with the bad.
I am who I am. I fight for others. I own my choices and stand firm against abuse. I am not a victim. I am whole.
Cheryl Strayed, in her book Wild, describes her journey, hiking across one side of the U.S. while facing her ‘demons’. She wrote that she told herself that she would change the script that many women are told. She told herself that she was strong, safe, brave. I liked that. It fit my script, that dialogue… Continue reading I am strong. I am safe. I am brave. But….
Because nobody can tell you how to participate in life. You have to do it. (Though mercy, love and support from others can help, right?)
We know life because of family. This is our heritage.
Dolores Umbridge: I am sorry, dear, but to question my practices is to question the Ministry, and by extension, the Minister himself. I am a tolerant woman, but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty.
Minerva McGonagall: Disloyalty?
Dolores Umbridge: Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared.
The #Maybehedoesnthityou campaign has taken hold on social media. And rightly so. It describes emotional and mental abuse that may or may not be coupled with sexual and physical abuse. It opens up the door, that door behind which we silently cry, too afraid or ashamed to share. I know. I suffered this abuse. For… Continue reading We don’t talk about it. But we should.
There is something about birthdays. We have fun. We eat cake. We drink wine. We sing 80s songs on Singstar (well, that may be a peculiarity of our family). And mothers reflect. When our children, our young adult children, grow and mature, we as mothers mature. A passing birthday causes us to catch our breath, in… Continue reading Another birthday. Another reflection.
Listened to a few homilies recently. Really listened . And heard a lot of good stuff about politics and Australia and economics and indigenous peoples and multiculturalism. Good stuff. Well, maybe “okay” stuff. But nothing about God. Doesn’t it seem strange to you, that in exhortations to be kind and just and equitable , that… Continue reading Leaving out God?
I learned lessons in my childhood, life lessons, lessons about who to be and how to be. My sons learned these lessons, unconsciously, from me, as I lived my homeschooling life. And they, in turn, taught me many things. Families do that. We live together and in our everyday moments we teach and learn. Is… Continue reading Learning and teaching
What about blogs? I haven’t blogged much this year. My outward excuse has been that there is too much going on. no time to blog. My true excuse is that I have felt as though life has sucked away all my creativity. That the Leonie, who has always written, to whom writing and reading were… Continue reading About blogs
