Politics, Stories
Sarah Holland
Campaign Update: March

"How's the campaign going?"

It's the question I get most often. It's also the question I'm never quite sure how to answer.

Good? ... Great! ... Your guess is as good as mine. ... We'll see May 17th!

The truth - I suppose - all depends on what you're measuring. 

Campaign Update: March
Celebrations
Sarah Holland
Felix's Winter ONE-derland

This weekend we hosted a Winter ONE-derland party in honor of Felix's first birthday. Considering this child was born during a snow, it seemed like an appropriate theme. Well, the weather had other plans and it was 70 and sunny! I could have hosted the dang party outside! 

Felix's Winter ONE-derland
Stories
Sarah Holland
Ruby

For my 30th birthday, I created a list of 30 things I wanted to do. One was to write a historical fiction short story. This is the story and as Ruby keeps calling to me here lately. I thought I'd share it here. 

Ruby
Food
Sarah Holland
Nicholas's Freezer to Crockpot Meals

One of Nicholas's New Year's resolutions was to try freezer meals. He'd prepped meals for the week on and off through 2015 and wanted to see how it would work to prepare an entire month's worth. Then, we could just pull a meal from the deep freeze, throw it in the crockpot, and on a busy day dinner would be waiting for us.

Nicholas's Freezer to Crockpot Meals
What I Learned
Sarah Holland
5 things I learned in January

Dear 2016, Slow. Up. I just picked my word for the year and finished off my New Year's Eve champagne like five minutes ago and now it's two days until February!

Whew.

5 things I learned in January

How I talk to my kids about sex

Recently a video from the Break.com entitled "Parents Talk to Their Kids About The Birds and the Bees for the First Time" started making the rounds on the internet. It is HIGH-larious to watch both the kids attempt to answer basic biological questions and the parents CLEAR discomfort in discussing this topic with their children.

My favorite moment is the mom who presents a very straightforward biological explanation only to look at the camera and proclaim repeatedly, "I don't like that." Seriously, just watch it. I'll wait. 

Birth Plans and Feeling Guilty

I went to a baby shower recently. As often happens when women gather, the conversation turned to babies and birth. I was seated next to a lovely woman I had been acquainted with growing up, who had recently moved home to raise a family.  We were sharing our very similar stories, when I told her that I had given birth at home and had a wonderful experience.  

“I’m so jealous,” she said as she told me she had wanted a natural birth but ended up with a c-section. I could hear the disappointment and sadness in her voice. 

“But I know all that matters is my baby was healthy in the end." She gave me a small smile. 

I stopped her. 

Why I'm Afraid to KEEP Having Babies

I love being a mother. I've been mothering since I was a small girl. I was always much older than my cousins so I grew up around babies. My twin half-brothers were born when I was ten years old. I remember coming home from summers in California with our father - summers spent caring for these tiny twin babies - and literally praying to God someone would leave a baby on my front porch. 

I was positively phobic about being infertile. While I did postpone children long enough to go to law school, I remember the constant temptation to have a child. As I struggled with career choices and job searches, there was a huge part of me that wanted to bypass it all and start having children. I KNEW there would be none of the uncertainty and self-doubt when when it came time to be a mother. 

I knew the job of mothering would be fulfilling. I knew I would be good at it. 

And I was right. It is fulfilling. I am (for the most part) good at it. So, I understand where Chaunie Brusie is coming from in her post I'm Afraid to Stop Having Babies.

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We recently saw Selma - the Oscar-nominated (and snubbed) film about the 1965 march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, AL. It tells the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as James Bevel, Hosea Williams, and John Lewis, as they fought for civil rights for black Americans. 

I loved David Oweloyo's portrayal of King, including the difficulties he faced within his marriage. It is an incredibly powerful experience to remember that the legend that is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was also a very real man with problems and flaws and struggles all this own. It is the same experience I had when reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X - the connection you feel to a historical figure when you remember they were a human being just like you.

To me, it is important because it not only takes Dr. King. out of the history books, but also the struggle for which he fought so hard. As today's holiday approached and school lessons filled with stories of Dr. King, my son and I have spent a lot of time talking about the work of MLK. I find it so difficult to impart the ongoing struggle of civil rights without taking away from the successes of Dr. King's life and work. 

I want him to be so much more than a speech to my children.

One of my favorite ways to remember there was a very real human being behind his famous speech is Freedom's Ring illustration of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech. The video is a beautifully illustrated representation but also allows you to see the edits Dr. King made to his written speech and the way it varies from the famous spoken version.

Something about seeing his edits and thinking about how he must have worked and stressed over the speech makes the entire thing seem so much more real. 

I highly recommend it if you are looking for a way to remember Dr. King today or any day.

 

Ashley Martin and "Picture Perfect Births"

Home birth is back in the news. In early December, the British health service released new statistics on the use of midwives at home and in birthing centers. Based on these findings, they concluded healthy women were safer delivering with a midwife at home or in a birthing center than in a hospital. These findings prompted the New York Times Editorial Board to officially recommend a more welcoming approach to midwifery and home births here in the United States. 

On one of her recent shows highlighting these findings, Diane Rehm noted that there seemed to be consensus among her guests and the medical community - midwives offer a better standard of care and real lessons for the medical community on how the patient experience. 

Unfortunately, despite the growing evidence that midwives and home births can be a safe options for mothers, my most recent discussions involving home birth have centered around a viral post on PopSugar entitled "What A Home Birth Is Like: My True Feelings Regarding My Home Birth Experience" by Ashley Martin. 

7th Grade Life List: 22. See the Harlem Globetrotters

In 7th grade, I made a list of 60 goals I wanted to achieve in my life. Some were big (Win an Oscar, a Tony, and a Grammy) and some not so big (Read Gone with the Wind). After having a fabulous experience checking one SUPER item off, I decided to keep at it and achieve as many of my 7th grade goals as possible.

22. See the Harlem Globetrotters.

There are exactly three entries on my 7th Grade Life List that have anything to do with sports. 

The online home of Sarah Stewart Holland