Last post, Essays on Women Chapter 1

This is the last submission for this chapter. Look for more in a few weeks as we are all now preparing our work for Chapter 2.

Essays on Woman, Chapter One Part Three

"Obedient I feel my soul, always most beautifully free."

                                                        watercolor sketch, Kelly Dineen

                                                                                                   Erica Tighe

Essays on Woman, Chapter One Part Two

To Mallory & Baby Jane

Witnessing you becoming a mother

has been a mystery for me.

Remember when you told us, around your kitchen table?

And we were so happy.

And your belly swelled.

And you picked colors and considered names.

And you fetched me from the airport

And I was crying, crying, crying

And over vegan doughnuts

said something that put to rest ten years of my questioning.

As our friend leaves for Carmel this staying with you is a schooling for me.

Your honesty, your admitting reality.

Open tears, voiced worries, known fatigue.

So gently bold even weakness is strength.

Coq au vin on Christmas,

constant stream of visitors,

calming and calming and calming her.

Composure through all the hospital visits. (You are the medical 1%)

I am learning that sometimes it is the smallest things that carry the greatest weight.

I see two become one become three. You gather. How you gather!

No space to fit the baptism party guests.

It becomes so clear; you were meant for this.

This new fullness of vocation.

He's been building toward this- the hallways in Watts, the books in Fayetteville, the vows in Baltimore.

And so you, together, enter your new era of service.

Struggling for ounces. Worrying over ounces. Rejoicing because of ounces.

Ounce by ounce she grows. Fueled by your heart which expands to envelop her.

She fits perfectly in your arms. 

Sarah Wostenberg

                                                                                        Marylouise McGraw