Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Running with scissors

1987. I was living in a rather spacious apartment next to the railroad tracks in Herstal, Belgium. It was early in my mission and my companion and I had already been through a lot together. One of the stand-out physical characteristics about my companion was her hair. Bold, thick, long straight hair that reached well [...]

What Are You Wearing?

Last Friday after work, I stopped at the shops to grab some groceries. Before I even entered the centre, two strangers had nodded at me as they walked past. I can’t remember ever seeing them before in my life, I wouldn’t be able to identify them now, but I know why they acknowledged me – [...]

Forget Not

Like many of you, I attended the Saturday night Relief Society broadcast at my stake center and came away feeling spiritually rejuvenated and replenished. I listened with interest to Sister Beck’s talk about the history, purpose, and vision of Relief Society (can’t wait to read the new book!), Sister Allred’s thoughts on charity (note to [...]

simple pleasures

Whenever my Gabriel is overwhelmed (and often when he’s not), he retreats to his room and pulls Lego guys out of his blue safe. Time stops for him as the ‘guys’ talk and fly, fight and tumble. My 17 year old has a similar ritual– reading a novel in the shade of the front porch. [...]

Cursed by the Nursing Gods

On the day my baby left the NICU, an occupational therapist came to visit us. “You’re leaving today! Yay! How’s the nursing going?” “We’re doing the SNS,” I said. SNS meant Supplemental Nursing System, a bottle of breast milk around my neck, dripping down a tube taped to my chest, beneath a silicon nipple shield. [...]

The Longing to Be All Of Me

Today’s guest post comes from Theressa Schroeder, who has been writing since she was six years old.  Originally a Northeasterner, she spent five interesting years in Utah picking up a B.A. in English. In the two years after that, she somehow found herself falling in love with a submariner in the U.S. Navy and now [...]

Justice and Mercy Walk into a Bar

Justice and Mercy walk into a bar. Justice overhears a customer order “another Shirley Temple, please.” Barkeep reminds the customer that he hasn’t paid for his last two yet. Justice grabs the customer by the collar, yells, “You can’t pay your bill? You’re outta here!” and kicks him out the door.

An Offender for a Word

Many years ago, a woman I visit taught asked to have me removed as her visiting teacher. I shouldn’t have known about this, of course — the visiting teaching shuffle is almost always a hush hush affair, especially if specific requests for change are involved. But I had an inkling that my visiting teachee wasn’t [...]

Doors and Windows

A few mornings ago, my five-year-old son climbed out of our mini-van and announced, “Mom, I wish we had a baby.” “Me, too,” I said, pre-occupied with getting my three-year-old out of the car and only half-listening. He went on, “I wish our baby hadn’t died. I wish I had my baby brother.” My breath [...]

On Epiphanies

I’m in the second year of a Creative Writing MFA program, which means that I’ve gained just enough confidence to be disagreeable. Last year I nodded my head in agreement with everyone, convinced that if something didn’t sound right, it was just because I didn’t understand it well enough. Now I find myself disagreeing with [...]

Forward

I spent a semester abroad in Israel as a college student in 1994. One of the places we visited was the Qalandia refugee camp. I remember the intensity with which our Arab professor spoke of the circumstances of the camp. How hard he tried to impress upon us the conditions under which they lived. How [...]

Layers

She walked onto the stage wearing layers. How many I wasn’t sure. A long-sleeved t-shirt stretched the length of her arms. Cotton rippled round her waist, hinting of more beneath, and a pair of khaki pants hung loose on her hips. All eyes were on her, as she began to move. I’ve seen Jill dance [...]

Behold The Thistle

                          Autumn comes on timidly and I feel the last few strains of summer sing out to me when I attach the baby to my chest and take a bike ride. We ride the paths that wind through farm acreage the suburbs have [...]

To have Bitten off the Matter with a Smile

Today’s guest post comes from Jes S. Curtis, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband and two children. When she isn’t throwing starfish back into the ocean one at a time, she blogs at squeezetheuniverse.com, edits creative nonfiction for JuiceBox: A Journal of the Ordinary, and tutors writing with Smarthinking. You can read [...]

My Stint as a Cherry Sorter

You may not know this, but I have not always led the glamorous life that I do now. My very first job, in fact, demanded early morning risings, long hours, and repetitive and sometimes back-breaking labor, all with little respect and fairly low wages (on second thought, this is sounding oh, so familiar to my [...]

Burning in Hell

In my Primary class (7-8 year-olds) we’ve been reading the Gospels (as has everyone else in the Church, I assume). In Matthew there are a few verses that talk about burning in everlasting fire if we live lives of sin. Since all kids have had a painful burn at some point, I figured they would [...]

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