"Mother's Who Think"

A few years ago, gosh, it might be as long as 8 years ago, I wrote an essay for Salon, an online magazine. I was pretty dang surprised to hear they were going to include it in a print collection of essays called, “Mother’s Who Think”. Um, right there, that title made me doubt their choice, since the essay wasn’t the epitome of “thinking”. It was entitled “How I Beat a Bull with my Three-Speed Blender”…a short “lively” true story about a rogue bull that wandered into my yard and threatened my boys.

I was just thrilled to be included in a collection of such an amazing caliber of writers, especially Anne Lamott, one of my favorite, “mothers who think”. And, the book hit the NYT best-sellers list for, oh, about 10 minutes. Woo Hoo!!!

So, because it involved a blender, (so it's kinda about food), and because I’m bashfully proud of it, I’m gonna post it here. It’s such a old book, you might find it in the library…or pick it up at Amazon for something like 54 cents! Some of the essays are too liberal for my tastes, but some are so deeply moving and truly spoken, that they will resonate with any Mom...or any woman or man, for that matter. I believe we all have maternal instincts, even the most die-hard, cigar chomping truck mechanic. He probably loves kittens.

These essays speak (except for mine, which is silly and not very deep!) about those feelings and how we deal or manifest them in our lives. Being a Mom (or a Dad, or a devoted Aunt, Uncle, or Grandparent) is scary business, deeply rewarding, often frustrating, and ultimately the biggest self-sacrifice we will ever make. It's good, I think, when we get to read someone else's ideas about these issues - for me, it's like, "oh, I'm not the ONLY one who feels that way"!

So read the book for THOSE essays, especially Anne Lamott's.

BTW...I STILL have that blender!