Kristin Goodwin is a mother of four on the East Coast. Among other things, she thrives on reading, cooking interesting meals, spending time in the outdoors, and playing her flute. She’s learning to accept her messy house and chaotic life with a sense of gratitude rather than resentment, as she realizes that it reflects what she treasures most after all.
A long time ago, when I had just two little ones, a picnic-table conversation with friends veered to the question, What clues signal to you that someone has plenty of money? Everyone laughed at my response, which was curtains and zip-top baggies; but having been long-time poor students, my husband and I almost never used anything but fold-tops or even repurposed bread bags. Seeing a mom sit down with a whole bunch of food items in their own zippered pouches made me assume they must be dang well-off.
For some reason I’ve hung onto that mentality of scarcity a long while. Items that friends take for granted still feel like huge splurges for us, as we remain resistant to consumerism large and small. I must admit that deep down, I presume that a person who expends effort to be trendy in some way must not be thinking clearly about their values; they must be caught in a trap of fleeting, unimportant things that get in the way of the ‘real stuff’. I even initially discount someone if they seem too stylish or popular.
The Whitney Nominees for 2013 have been announced! It’s been over a week, but I wanted to introduce this year’s nominees to Segullah readers even though I’m a little late. Here’s a 
