Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Eating Oatmeal

I ate it for breakfast,  alone in the kitchen. It was gooey and warm, sweetened with lumps of brown sugar and thinning with milk. It made me want to write a poem–I can’t explain why. Instead I googled “poems about oatmeal,” found a hit and Galway Kinnell joined me for breakfast. Oatmeal – by Galway [...]

A Simple Wish

I stumbled through the dining room this morning, bleary-eyed and hung-over on last night’s dose of cold medicine.  My vision was cloudy, but I laughed as I passed the wooden box with the word “simplify” written decoratively across the front.  It is overflowing with cords, spare chargers and every unclaimed accessory to random electronic gadgets [...]

Are We Remotely in Control?

As much as I would love to take credit for the piece here, I cannot.  I opened my email this morning and found the following thoughtful colloquy on the effects of watching television by my brother, Zachary Hutchins.  He’s a writer and educator, helping his wife to raise three small boys while living in the [...]

Be not silent, nor unquestioning.

Religious persecution is not a cross I have to bear.  Although at times I feel like a stranger in a foreign land when it comes to the beliefs and convictions that separate me from the general populous, I have only to glance backward at history to know that I have been born in an age [...]

Staying Grounded

My brother Aaron wrote a family letter day-before-yesterday, chronicling the goings-on of his week.  It was informal, cheery and full of the stuff that makes up his life.  In closing, he mentioned an article he had read in this month’s Ensign magazine; a Devotional Address entitled “Things As They Really Are” by Elder David A. [...]

The Winds Will Blow; I Will Listen.

I was a young-married with two toddler sons and we were on a two-year adventure on the pacific coast when my maternal grandfather died. I remember thinking about my Grampy in the evening of his life, the build-up of the tempest, far-away and non-threatening. His death became somehow anticlimactic because it happened 3,000 miles east [...]

Rock the Boat (don’t tip the boat over…)

You know how you can pinpoint the exact place and time you were when you learned about the events on September 11th? Certain days become frozen in time; indelible impressions that mark a change. On 9-11 I was leaving to shop for a washing machine. My in-laws were visiting. My mother-in-law was upstairs ironing. There [...]

To judge or be judged

You’ve all experienced this to some degree… to judge or be judged. I remind myself today that We are all fighting a hard fight. About others, we do not know the whole story. Others do not know the story of our struggles. A good friend told me that she tries to keep this thought in [...]

In the Season of Giving: A Trait to Cherish

My mom, Priscilla, was a highly sought-after commodity in the prime of her single years. It was 1959. She had a nice Italian boyfriend who wanted to marry her. Her father strongly disapproved. Her high school sweetheart was an enlisted man, with no college education. He would ask for her hand regularly; every leave provided [...]

A new crown, no prospects of royalty and today’s a new day

Yesterday I sat in the dentist chair with the drill humming in the background and I made a resolve NEVER to eat sugar again. I promised myself that I’ll floss everyday. I swear I’ll be more vigilant with my kids’ teeth so that they don’t have to endure agony in the chair. I carried home [...]

From the Inside Looking Out

  I never thought about it happening on a play date. My new-found friend and I had spent a delightful day making bread, mixing soup and baking cookies. While the kids played happily, we talked about art, literature, church, friends and living providently while we swapped funny stories and checked on the kids. We talked [...]

When I wear old shoes, I raise my focus

Summer’s winding down. To that, I say bah. It’s always too short. I could do with one more beach day, one more book to read, one more day trip, and I’m up for finding one more reason not to embrace the finality of a looming Labor Day weekend. A few weeks ago I salvaged binders, [...]

Smooth(ie) Operator

I’ve entered the meal prep funk phase of my life. There are periods of time when I feel unmotivated to plan, shop or prepare for meals. These, like the seasons, eventually pass and I find myself inspired by others’ fresh ideas and motivated by the excitement my family generates when they realize good food is [...]

Consumed by Entitlement

Today’s  guest post comes from the endearing and committed, Jenny Whitcomb, a delightful Massachusetts-living mother of six, known for making sculptures out of her teenage son’s messy room and always infusing her mothering with humor and creativity. She enjoys life’s simple pleasures like grape laffy taffy and marathon soaks in the tub. A week ago I attended a meeting [...]

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