Last night I found myself scrolling through old blog posts. I was searching for a specific picture that I knew was buried down in the feed. As my finger glided over my phone screen, I landed on the image of me sitting in the van. I stopped. . When Katie snapped the picture of me … Continue reading masks
Author: arstanley
dear momma
It’s been six years and two days. I still think about him. I still think about you. . This year has felt so heavy for us all. The world has slowed and shifted. We’ve stayed in, we’ve argued, we’ve made peace, found new joys, enjoyed being together, and all gone stir-crazy. . Perhaps that’s why … Continue reading dear momma
collections
I’ve been growing quiet, slowing down, feeling as if I have less to say here. I’m realizing it is not that I have less to say, it is that I am moving away from needing to say things about what happened last year. I’m giving myself permission to close that collection, so to speak. I’m … Continue reading collections
curious
The way the world shifts and moves inside of us is a curious thing. Like the waves pulling in with the tide, sure of their trajectory towards the shore, only to meet it and pull back out to the sea, to the depths, to the unknown. . Your path, your journey, your life can move … Continue reading curious
sinking
I started and stopped writing a blog post on October 22. I gave up writing that post and haven’t opened my blog app up since. I find it ironic that the title I gave it was ‘wading’ and opened with this: Brené says, “People who wade into the discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth … Continue reading sinking
me
It’s been a little over a year since I inked a lamppost onto my forearm. I had wanted it for about a year. I knew exactly where it needed to reside on my body. I knew the exact reason I wanted it. Then I do what I tend to do with tattoos, I wait, and … Continue reading me
faith
Covid... faith... church... . These three things have a hard time mixing. . I’ve not been inside a church building since February. Early February, I had what’s considered a minor surgery but recovery for me was tough. I was unprepared after four pregnancies and births for it to take my body as long as it … Continue reading faith
forgetting
As I sat in my studio this morning scrolling through pictures, gazing out the window, sipping coffee, I realized this was one of the first, if not the first morning I woke up and my first thought didn’t go to guilt, remorse, a pit in my stomach. I woke up different. I woke up a … Continue reading forgetting
unexpected
It’s the unexpected things that hold attachment that catch me off guard. The season shifted to fall, October walked through the door, slow, and golden. She shrugged off her jacket and sat on the couch with a cup of hot coffee. I hadn’t expected her like that. I hadn’t expected her to linger in this … Continue reading unexpected
ponderings
This October feels strange. In many ways, this year has trudged along, slow, steady, slow again. The beginning of the year felt like months would never end. Some days were tiny infinities in and of themselves. Spring sprung and all things COVID with it. Nothing felt fast. Here I sit, a few days into October, … Continue reading ponderings