Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

What’s in a Name?

I sat in the hospital waiting room reading celebrity magazines, a guilty pleasure I rarely indulge in. My husband was in an operating room in Boston having a pin installed in his hand to help heal a fractured bone. In the great scheme of things, it wasn’t too big a deal. Another family walked in [...]

Wedding Demons

Today’s guest post is from Samantha Strong Murphey, who aspires to be the next J.K. Rowling, but so far, every time she sits down to write her masterpiece, it comes out as a masked version of Harry Potter. Until an original idea strikes, she’ll continue working as a freelance journalist, copy editor and blogger. She [...]

On Running into Ex-Boyfriends

Recently I attended the wedding luncheon of the daughter of one of my favorite BYU roommates. It’s been almost twenty-five years since Sherri and I were roommates, and she’s lived all over the world since she got married, currently residing just outside of Detroit, while I’ve lived in California and, for the past twenty years, [...]

MOM LOSES HER MIND

It was a dark and stormy night last Friday here in Georgia. Okay, it was really just drizzling, but it was dark. My mom was driving me and my daughter to my sister’s house, about a mile away, for dinner. Because Mom lives here and I don’t, I figured she knew where she was going. [...]

A Valentine for My Village

Two weeks before Valentine ’s Day my daughter’s teacher sent home a box with instructions to decorate it and bring it back for the class party. We’ve made Valentine boxes for the past few years, so I was no stranger to the tradition and was at least grateful that this time we were given a [...]

That Thing That is of Most Worth

Popham Beach State Park, Maine   In a recent Worldwide Leadership Training Conference, attendees heard someone’s thoughts on “that thing that is of most worth to a woman in this life.” If someone asked you what that “thing of most worth” is, how would you answer? Some years ago I went through a very tough [...]

Being an Artist

When I was in high school, other kids in my studio class senior year were going on to art school. I remember the signs up for portfolio days with the big schools—Pratt, Cooper Union, Chicago, RISD. “You should go,” my art teacher pressed. But when I thought about being an artist as a profession it [...]

If You Just [Insert Stupid and/or Unhelpful Here]

“Hey Kel, I know this really nice guy – “ “No thanks.” “But I haven’t said anything about him!” “You said you know a guy.” “I do!” “You said ‘nice’” “So?” “You’re trying to set me up.” “Um, yeah?” “No thanks.” I do not need a husband. I’ve had one and frankly the model I [...]

Elephant Tears

I don’t cry a lot. I exercise my tear ducts often enough to make sure they still work, but I have hardly been called a water-works, cry baby or someone with leaky eyes. Yet, I am not at all like my husband, who I have never seen cry. In our ten year history I have [...]

Thanks(giving) for the Memories

On a recent flight, my daughter sat next to an actress affiliated with a Chicago based comedy troupe. The actress needed some ideas for an upcoming Thanksgiving sketch routine and asked my daughter if she had any funny family holiday meal stories. The story my daughter shared was one my husband and I have no [...]

A Woman, but Never a Young One

I know this may be tempting the fates, but I have never yet served in the Young Women’s program. When I joined the church in college in Massachusetts, I joined a university ward that only had adult programs. I had all manner of wonderful role models – male and especially female. I had mentors of [...]

Enough for her

The other day in between attending the temple and picking up a few things at the grocery store, I dropped by the nicest assisted living home in town to see my grandmother. Grandma Jacobs was, of course, happy to see me. We both enjoy our visits together. If I’m alone we sit opposite of each [...]

You’ve Got Mail!

His name was Alessandro. He was tall, Italian, with thick curly black hair and eyes warmer than dark chocolate. He didn’t speak English, I didn’t speak Italian, yet we were pen-pals for a year in the ‘90s. We murdered verbs and sentence structure as we tried to describe our lives in French, then sent our [...]

A Matter of Perspective

This week, I spent nearly a full day by Mum’s bedside in hospital. Her pain was neon intense, as unstoppable as a meteor, and anxiety framed her face more starkly than her sweat slick hair and oxygen tubing. At one point just before her CT scan she gripped my arm so tightly my hand turned [...]

A LOVE LETTER TO MY WARD

Today’s post comes from Eliana Osborne, who lives in the desert with her husband and two young sons.  She’s a freelance writer specializing in health and adjunct English faculty at Arizona Western College.  She loves to travel instead of doing needed home repairs, and thinks a brownie is the perfect breakfast. Last October marked ten years we’ve [...]

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