Every Thursday I post over at Busted Halo — a ministry of the Paulist Fathers — on a blog called La Lupe (I know, I know, pretty similar titles).
Our oldest daughter, Olivia, was born in 2009. I had decided to leave my job (after my first year of teaching) and stay at home with her. I knew a couple other mothers but most of our friends were unmarried and if they were married, didn’t have kids. We had no family in town. Brandon was working in Campus Ministry and was always really busy. I was alone and isolated. I had this really strong desire to be a stay-at-home mom but it was slowly driving me insane. I didn’t know how to deal with it. I didn’t know that there were playgroups out there to find, or online forums, or mommy friends to be made, or even books that could help. It was just me and Olivia in our little condo day in and day out. I didn’t know to take her out to libraries or parks or on walks. That was never my experience as a child. I was always just thrown together with my cousins in a backyard and I had a great childhood.
Brandon could tell I was reaching a tipping point. He could tell I was not headed toward any place good. So he suggested writing. Sure, why not. And that’s when V’s Voice (previous title of my little blog here) was born. I immediately loved it. It gave me a sense of myself again that I had begun to lose. It gave me something to work on outside of home.
Shortly after I started writing, Brandon went to a Paulist Convention (while I tagged along and hung around NYC with a good friend). It was here that he chatted with Busted Halo’s then editor-in-chief – Bill McGarvey. Bill mentioned that they were looking for someone Hispanic who knows their theology and can be relatable to the young adult crowd. Brandon had me send over some of the things I had written and La Lupe over at Busted Halo was born.
I am really happy to be over there still. Like I said, if I’m not being a total slacker, they post my stuff on Thursdays. As I am taking a few extra weeks off after the new year, I’ll link to this post that I wrote a while back: The Devil is Watching You
Leave a Reply