Play It Again, Sahm. Meredith Efken
woman and an amazing teacher. At first, I was so impressed with her and the research she’s done, that I chose her as my advisor. But I didn’t know until I had her for class this summer what she was really like.
She’s quite the feminist, and when she found out that I am married to a pastor, she made barbed comments about it during class. It was embarrassing and demeaning. And stupid. She’s very intelligent, but her sarcastic remarks made her sound immature and not very bright.
I feel guilty for not liking her. After all, I know that God loves her, and if Jesus were in my shoes, He’d forgive this woman and be able to see past the petty smallness and into her heart.
But for once in my life, I’d like to not do the “spiritually correct” thing. My husband, Jonathan, told me that he thinks God led me to my advisor for a reason. I’m sure He did, but I’m not happy about it at all. A normal person would request an advisement change. A normal person would not put up with this crap.
I, however, don’t feel I have the freedom to be a “normal person.” (No quips about that, you guys!) It would affect my funding for my dissertation, and it would not be good for my reputation. Right now, I’m not too happy about that at all.
So that’s the confession— Ms. Holy Pastor’s Wife doesn’t want to be the “light and love of Christ” to this bitter woman. Ms. Holy Pastor’s Wife is tired of doing the right thing and would like to do the usual human thing of writing her off permanently.
Ms. Holy Pastor’s Wife is grumpy.
Phyllis
ZeeMuzzy: hey phyllis—you trying to bait rosalyn or what?
PhyllisLorimer: No. I just needed to vent.
ZeeMuzzy: well, i don’t blame you. but you know ros is going to have something to say about it.
PhyllisLorimer: Something along the lines of “Thanks for your honesty, dear, but I’m a little concerned about the example you’re setting for the other women. We who are in a position of leadership need to be conscious of what our actions are saying to others,” perhaps?
ZeeMuzzy: precisely
PhyllisLorimer: Too late. I’ve already preached that sermon to myself and the effect lasted about as long as people’s memories of Jonathan’s sermons do on Sunday morning.
ZeeMuzzy: the amount of time it takes for the congregation to walk from their seat to the back of the sanctuary?
PhyllisLorimer: The average for that is 21.6 seconds. So a little less than that, yes.
ZeeMuzzy: poor girl. wish i had something spiritually profound to say.
PhyllisLorimer: I do, too. You know I’d listen.
ZeeMuzzy:
PhyllisLorimer: Happy thought, indeed.
ZeeMuzzy: shouldn’t be long now. wait for it…
PhyllisLorimer: Waiting. Nothing yet.
ZeeMuzzy: wait for it…
PhyllisLorimer: Waiting with anticipation and mortal dread.
ZeeMuzzy: 3…2…1…
| From: | P. Lorimer <[email protected]> |
| To: | Zelia Muzuwa <[email protected]> |
| Subject: | Nothing! |
How very odd—six hours later and no response! I wonder what happened to her?
Phyllis
| From: | Zelia Muzuwa <[email protected]> |
| To: | P. Lorimer <[email protected]> |
| Subject: | Re: Nothing! |
Huh. Therapy session run long, maybe?
Z
| From: | VIM <[email protected]> |
| To: | SAHM I Am <[email protected]> |
| Subject: | Re: [SAHM I AM] TOTW June 1: Total Honesty |
Okay, y’all… I mean, all of you (sorry Ros),
All y’all (argh, I can’t help it! I may not be native Texan, but I tell you… I have the soul of one!)—anyway, you all have inspired me with your honesty, so here’s what’s going on in lil’ old Ronnie’s corner of the earth…
Ashley’s now thirteen years old, and as determined to make her momma miserable as ever a teenager was. Keeps talking nonsense about how she wants to go live with her “real mom” instead of her dad and me—despite the fact that “Real Mom” sent BACK the Christmas presents the kiddos made for her last year! I know Ashley’s just trying to annoy us, but it’s super irritating to have to admit it works.
Courtney’s nine and Stanley’s seven. And other than the sibling war that the two girls have been waging since…birth, I guess, they’re not doing too badly.
And my baby, Stephenie is eighteen months old now! I shouldn’t phrase it like that, I suppose. I feel like the other three are mine, too, after being the only real mama they’ve ever had for three years now. But y’all know what I mean, I hope.
Lest you start thinking this is sounding an awful lot like a Christmas newsletter, I’m saying all this because of the thing I want to talk about for this Honesty topic of the week thingy.
Frank, my sweet Francesco, has been telling me that since the kids are getting older and especially with Ashley being a pain in the behind lately, and also since he wants to avoid the mistakes he made with his ex…
He thinks we should try attending church! His family back in Italy is 100% Catholic, and he’s wanting to check out our local parish.
I know most of you all on this loop are churchgoing folks, so this is where that hard-core honesty is coming in for me. I’m not real sold on the idea of going to church. I don’t think it’s very responsible of us to expect religion to solve our problems or fix our kids. You all are generally sincere and genuine people, and I respect that. I’m just not sure I’m the religious type.
But Frank really is pushing for it. I told him if he wanted to take the kids and go, I wouldn’t put up a fuss. But he doesn’t want to go without me. Not sure if there’s a sentimental reason for that or if he just doesn’t want to handle all four kids by himself. But we’re kinda at a standoff with it.
And that there’s my confession. Hey…confession! I don’t need to go to church. I’ve got all of you.
Veronica
| From: | Iona James <[email protected]> |
| To: | SAHM I Am <[email protected]> |
| Subject: | [SAHM I AM] An Honest Greeting From Iona |
Dia daoibh! (“Hi there” in Gaelic),
I will not reveal my given name, but I am called Iona—ever since I discovered that my great-great-grandmother was born there. I had a dream about her three years