Joni Edelman

I guess the point of a spiritual awakening is just that; if you were already awake, you wouldn’t need a moment that was self-defining. You’d already be defined.

By baby three, well let’s just say things are a little anticlimactic, at least where furnishings are concerned. Hand me down crib. Check.

My mother didn't teach me how to be a mother. But my babies did.

As long as I can remember having paid attention to the media, I can remember a woman's weight—or body in general—being a news story.

My husband and I recently traveled together without our kids for the first time . . . in a while. And it was a brand-new ball game.

It doesn’t get any more difficult to insult ourselves, regardless of how old we are. It would be ideal if it got easier to respect ourselves, but it generally doesn’t do that either. Every year you age, and every year the aging you looks at the you of the years before and thinks, I can’t believe I thought I was fat/ugly/etc.

Misogyny is pervasive. And my three boys are living it all.

photo credit: Lindy West (instagram), by

Is that incense I smell? A drum circle in the distance perhaps? Chanting? Herbal potions? Perhaps a cauldron? Could it be homebirth?

As a stay-at-home mom, I've made plenty of sacrifices. Where are my accolades?