Category: personal

I have the pleasure of being featured at CatholicMom.com with a reflection on being gifted the opportunity to do things differently as a grandparent. No longer driven by all the responsibilites of a household, I can slow down a little and just be silly and present.

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I spend much too much time telling social media algorithms that I love baby memes and grandparent videos. And I continue to feed into it by watching every single one of the reels and videos that pop into my feeds. There’s probably a better use of my down time. I could take up the piano or write the Great American Novel.   

Alas, the videos win every time…. 

One of the funny bits that comes up often is the adult child pointing out that the mother-turned-grandmother is unrecognizable. My own daughter has said this on occasion when I’ve taken a fussy child aside and showered him with attention instead of sending him to a time-out, or when I give two small boys wooden spoons and set them loose in an explosion of flour and eggs to make cookies with no regard for the clean-up….  

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read more at Catholicmom.com

Andrea Bear’s novel, Grieving Daughters Club, captures the myriad ways we grieve as women. We are daughters, and we are daughters of the Father. Whether our earthly relationship as a daughter is a happy one or fraught with pain, it is our heavenly relationship with the Father that consoles and heals.

Through her characters, Bear explores the complexity of grief surrounding the death of a parent, but also touches upon metaphorical (and physical) deaths endured by the characters, such as the death of a child, the ending (or changing) of relationships, and in many ways, the little deaths to aspirations and dreams.

All of these themes are explored through friendships that develop over the course of a book club that is aptly named a “book talk.” The meetings use a book as a backdrop for conversation, enjoying wine, and building community.

When things in these women’s lives take a dark turn, it is in this community that they find the strength and support to overcome their grief.

Well-written and engaging, with interesting characters and plot twists, Bear captures a wide spectrum of grief responses and the role of community, relationship, and faith in healing.

Several weeks ago I jumped into the deep end of the pool: I started a podcast. After many years of guest appearances on other’s podcasts, not to mention two lovely runs on both The Secrets of Harry Potter and Catholic Weekend, both hosted at SQPN (check out their line-up of neat shows exploring the culture), I developed my own podcast, Badass Saints and Exceptional Women.

After the publication of my first book, My Badass Saints, people have asked me for more stories of amazing saints. More than a few asked why I didn’t include So-and-So, their favorite saint, or some new exciting saint. Well, the short answer is that I ran out of pages in the book. But never fear! In this podcast, I follow the same format of the book, giving you new badass saints and some amazingly exceptional women. My favorite part of this project is that I can respond to your suggestions!

I hope you give it a listen and follow for more content. And don’t forget to leave a review at iTunes!