Stories like Ours

We all need books that move us, change us, challenge us, enlighten us, educate us, heal us. One book that has been healing for me in my journey away from fundamentalism and spiritual abuse has been Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu. This is just one of many that have made me feel less alone in my experience, that have opened my heart to the possibility that my story is important too, that this hasn’t all been for nothing. That our experiences mean something.

When I first heard about Jennifer Mathieu, I was attending the Festival of Faith and Writing three years after leaving the stay-at-home-daughter movement, and I saw her talk in the conference program, with a description of her book mentioning Christian Patriarchy. I hadn’t heard of any fiction books about the world of fundamentalist Christianity, and I was curious to see what she had to say and what her book Devoted was about. . . .

Shelter

This isn’t the first time I’ve had to shelter in place.

The world seems off-balance this year, but the deep part of me has found the old tracks through the forest, hidden due to years of absence, but still there.

During the work week I can muffle the echoes of the past, stay busy in my virtual office, stay connected with the present.

But on my days off, I’m reliving something I haven’t experienced in the seven years since I left my life as a stay-at-home daughter. . . .

MemoirCait WestOctober 14, 2020stay at home, stay at home daughter, shelter in place, covid-19, pandemic, learning, hope, remembering, memory, changeComment