Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Eat Dessert

Example of my side of a conversation held many times before: “Yes, I would like the dessert menu. Yes, I know I haven’t ordered my main. I would like the dessert menu at the same time as the main menu. Really. (Muttered aside to my Mum/friend/nearby stranger – Would you mind telling the lovely waiter [...]

They Should Not Contend

2 Nephi 26:32 And again, the Lord God hath commanded…that they should not contend one with another. My husband and I were raised in two different homes. That’s ridiculous, you say, we were all raised in different homes otherwise that would be kind of creepy. No, but really, on both philosophical and practical levels, our [...]

He and Me – Can We Be (Just) Friends?

I have lots of friends. I have friends I talk books with; go to movies with; friends I sweat on or near during Kung Fu; friends that know what I look like both when I’m feeling good and (especially) when the world is trying to kill me, the way I know how they look at [...]

When Two is Too Many

Beneath the rubble of Christmas morning, I chanced upon a small dolly, cozily tucked up to his armpits in a red and green felt stocking. I could call the gesture motherly, but I knew better by the skew of his striped nightcap, and then, by the presence of foil-wrapped chocolate Santas still underneath his feet: [...]

Running the Numbers

And the evening and the morning were the first day. I ran 200 fewer miles in 2010 than in 2009.  I read 25 fewer books.  I spent a lot of time doing things I don’t enjoy like moving, volunteering in classrooms, baking (mostly) unsuccessful allergen-free breads and goodies, hosting parties and play-dates, and cleaning.  I [...]

The Holdouts

It started Tuesday, after Cub Scout Pack, at a meeting with the other scout leaders and the Primary President. The president leaned over to me and asked, with a wince on her face, “Hey, could you play the piano again this week in Primary?” In addition to being a Webelos leader, I’m also the backup [...]

The Custodian of My Emotional Suitcase

Lisa Rumsey Harris teaches honors writing part-time at BYU. In 2006, she won the Heather Campbell Personal Essay Contest with her entry “Honor in the Ordinary.” She just completed her first novel, Watching Treasure Blume, all about a pear-shaped first-grade teacher with a family curse. Check out her world at www.treasureblume.com. My husband formally asked my [...]

On Halloween thievery

Some questions for all you Halloween thieves on this day of days: 1. Why does stolen candy taste much better than candy lawfully purchased? 2. What’s you’re preferred method of thievery? a. Carrying your own bag during trick-or-treating and claiming you have a sick kid/sibling/ niece or nephew back home b. Imposing an imperial candy [...]

I Don’t Have a Friend

Last Sunday I looked around the Relief Society room and realized that after more than a year in my new ward I don’t actually have a friend. This is a somewhat unusual position for me: I always have a friend, and if I don’t, I make one right away. My ward is mostly friendly, but [...]

Virgin lips

I was in ninth grade (late bloomer, me) and on a field trip to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. My friends and I attracted the attention of this guy, age sixteen or so, who had dropped out of school and spent his days hanging around the waterfront talking to people. A total loser, yes, but to fourteen-year-olds [...]

A confession.

So, last night the mutual kids had a Halloween carnival for the primary kids. I went to pick up my brood at the appointed time and the carnival was still swinging, so I went to find them in the cultural hall. I noticed that some kids were eating chocolate cupcakes. I wanted a chocolate cupcake. [...]

In our Lovely Deseret

Utah. I love it and I hate it. I am not from there (although my mother is). I am from The Mission Field. Like most Mormons Utah was always in the periphery of my life. It was the destination of many summer roadtrips, the place where all things churchy originated, the land where many members [...]

I Can See Clearly – About YOUR Life

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of spending three whole days with my best mate Tasha. We were both free of parental duties for the duration, and planned in advance what we were going to do: whatever we wanted, whenever the whim whacked us to do so. While she was here, we managed to [...]

Afternoons of Nothing

I have just done my most radical act of parenting so far in my fifteen-year career of raising six children: I have pulled my children out of all extra-curricular activities. Even piano lessons. Last year I spent just about every afternoon driving little people to various lessons, games, practices and rehearsals. There were the accompanying [...]

On Names

This morning at the temple initiatory, most of my names were simply surnames and this struck me in a way that it can only strike a sleep deprived and anxiously addled brain that resides in the cranium of a lady still very much postpartum: I just spent almost nine months obsessing over my baby’s name… [...]

« go back — keep looking »

  • be our friend.



  • Contact Us

    Journal subscriptions: journal.subscriptions at segullah dot org
    Technical issues:
    webmaster at segullah dot org
    Other inquiries:
    info at segullah dot org

  • More Kinds of Segullah

  • How Do You Say Segullah?

    se-goo-law rhymes
    Oo-la-lah, Segullah
    write and draw, Segullah
    coup d'etat, Segullah
    Blanche DuBois, Segullah
    shock and awe, Segullah
    Lah-dee-dah, Segullah
    looky, ma! Segullah!

  • Get published.

    The clock is ticking! Gear up to enter Segullah's annual personal essay, poetry, and fiction contests. Guidelines here. Deadline is December 31.

  • Admin