The Hidden Gospel

In keeping up with Suleika Jaouad's 100-Day Project , I opened my Book of Alchemy  a couple days ago to this prompt:  "Write about a time you realized you were struggling. What prompted the uncovering? What resources did you turn to in the wake of it? What is your relationship with that particular struggle like today?"   One day a while back on an afternoon walk, a friend and mentor noticed that my hair was clean, dry and somewhat tame, and that I was wearing real pants - a rare occasion in the harder seasons I had recently come through. She complimented me on my appearance, and pointed out that she could tell where my Wellness Gauge was by noticing just two things about me - if my hair was washed and my public clothing choice. I started to think about this and observed that I don't always notice the moment when my Wellness Gauge starts dipping. Before I know it, I'm out of gas and riding the Struggle Bus. M pointed out in the most gentle way that I have some road...

If you caught the first post in this series, you may recall a mention about a certain bug that mothers disapprove of having all over their kitchens.  Fact: Pill bugs can and will escape a container covered in plastic wrap with air holes; mothers disapprove.  Here's another Fact: 'Pill bugs' aren't bugs at all; they are terrestrial crustaceans. They are actually more closely related to lobsters, crabs and shrimp than to insects, being the only crustaceans that have adapted to living completely on land.  A few other fun facts about these critters that we learned about in Mrs. S's 5th Grade Science Class:  Pill bugs breathe with gills, just like their ancestors. To keep their gills from drying out on land, they are most active at night and live in damp areas under things like logs, mulch and stones.  The reason they are called pill bugs, or 'rolly polies', is because they can roll their bodies into a tight little ball when they are threatened in a process cal...

I had a few competitive people in my life as a child - namely, my best friend and my older brother. The thing they had in common was that they loved playing Monopoly (a game I dreaded, and for good reason), and they were always the banker.  True Story: I've been in a real fist fight. Yep. Over a game of Monopoly.  The scene opens in my best friend's backyard in a tent pitched next to an apricot tree. The late morning summer sun was beginning to stir us from our sleep, and we had another full day ahead of crawdad hunting in the creek, playing school with our American Girl dolls, and watching The Titanic. Both VHSs.   Again.  But first, a quick three-hour round of Monopoly in our PJs. The game started innocent enough, as it always does; though at some point, as it always does, it took a turn. I don't recall the move I made that caused her to flip over the game board and throw handfuls of plastic real estate at me; I do remember yanking her hair, getting smacked repeate...

There are scenes from the Farrelly Brothers' 2001 movie Osmosis Jones that have rented way too much space in my head since the 7th grade. Most of these scenes are quite disgusting, featuring some sort of bodily function (and usually - some sort of bodily fluid) in the bustling world inside Billy Murray's character, Frank DeTorre.  When a deadly virus enters Frank's body, Officer Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones (voiced by Chris Rock) of the White Blood Cell Police Department is put on the case. I somehow convinced my husband into re-watching it with me yesterday. I was still grossed out at all the same scenes (I even gagged at one point; aforementioned husband can testify), but I was just as amazed yesterday as I was in 7th grade health class at how creatively brilliant it is. Through Story, I started to understand a little better how my body works and functions.  A Text-To-Text connection I made was to Disney Pixar's Inside Out.  Same basic concept, though it explores me...