I'm Mollie.

It happened, y'all. Anne Lamott showed up, fully and present, unashamed to be scattered and spaced out.
One of her many mantras to herself is, "Even though you are scattered and spaced out, I fully love and accept you."

What would happen to us as people if we said, "I fully love and accept you" to ourselves everyday? Some people don't need that, clearly...but those who do...what a gift those words are.

She began speaking as if she wondered why we had all asked her here, bought all the tickets within 24 hours and then created the need for an overflow room. Her only answer was that maybe it's something about the way she talks that gives us a sense of relief...YOU THINK? YES, INDEED, ANNIE, YOU DO.

I was writing as fast as I could to record her every vowel, and these gems gave me and those around me a sense of relief tonight.

Anne said:

This is the one precious life, and it doesn't matter what your butt looks like.

Look up! You don't have to look at your feet. You don't have to look at your stomach. Yes, it sticks out. We got older. Sue us.

"Me too!" is the greatest theological line.

Do you want to be RIGHT, or KIND?

I make up almost all of my own problems, then I punish people around me and extract vengeance...but I make most of it up.

Where do we start? We start by stopping.

When we are in the abyss, Jesus doesn't say, "For Pete's sake, snap out of it."
He says, "Well why don't I come down there with you? I have a little bit of water to drink. It's not much..."

I insist on doing the grief, doing the angry.

You get to start over - it's the Christian tradition! You get to start over, just as soon as you remember that you do.

I have this family that lives with me...oh wait. MY family - my family lives with me...

Every single person's heart gets shattered in this life.

And I just said to God, "...WHATEVER."  (It's the fourth grader's prayer.)

God has to love you; that's God's JOB...no matter how secretly awful you are.




For those of you beautiful people who are ready for more words and truth from Anne Lamott, she has written 15 books. Google her. Then pick a book. Then go to your library or an INDEPENDENT BOOK STORE owned by a local yokal who loves trees and fair wages, and pick out one of her books.
She is also fabulous to follow on Facebook and Twitter. Real stuff, y'all.
And it still doesn't matter what your butt looks like.

My sister made me read this book:




She's older than I am, so she can make me do things.

I am all about a food theory and an experiment so I read quickly and got to cooking.
I ordered dextrose (one of our very options as we wean from sucrose, glucose, fructose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, stevia, agave nectar, and all other artificial sweeteners) from Amazon (thank you, Prime!) and used it to make Dirt Cookies.


So fun because the kids and husband started eating them before I could explain and THEY LIKED THEM.



Score one for less sugar.
A million more recipes to try...

My friend Cheryl lent me the book Where'd You Go, Bernadette?



I had one of those experiences where I didn't know I was at risk, but while reading that book I realized: This story has UP AND SAVED MY LIFE.

Right before Bernadette, I read Carry On, Warrior on a partial recommendation from my friend Angela (she recommended Glennon's website Momastery and would have recommended the book I feel sure, but I found the book through her blog).
Well that book UP AND SAVED MY LIFE too.



Glennon talks about being a writer and how it is akin to having an angry cat inside of her clawing to get out; there are just all of these ideas!
I get that.
I think I have lots of angry cats.

But I want my angry cats to come out looking like Emptied Gestures by Heather Hansen.
Her angry cats are so smooth and pretty.



I can't stop watching weird, modern, abstract art in motion after those two books and Heather Hansen on You Tube.

Y'all, I don't know what book to read next. The bar is so high in these recent life-saving experiences (again, NOT feeling at risk, just terribly inspired).

Carry on, you warriors, let your angry cats out in Antarctica if you have to.