I’m Not an Atheist Anymore: My Journey Out of the Self-Help Book Aisle to Orthodox Christianity

Five years ago—and not coincidentally, two years after California legalized recreational marijuana—I accepted an invitation from a Christian friend to attend her son’s baptism and took my younger son with me. Last summer, my younger son decided to get baptized after attending a church camp. I decided if he’s going to do it, I would too.

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If the Aliens are So Smart and Technologically Advanced, Why Do They Keep Crashing?

Interest in UFOs waxes and wanes like moon phases, and it’s waxing again—a bright, ginormous, greenish-grayish alien moon appearing next to our usual boring one and causing strong tides of interest, diverting our attention from more important news—the Bud Light boycott, all-ages drag shows, Trump’s indictment, Biden’s trips and falls… Frankly, I find the UFO gossip a welcome distraction.

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It’s Okay to Summarize (For Now)

I can’t let myself overthink it. I can’t worry about whether the prose is any good, at least until I finish my draft. It’s always the same. The beginning coalesces, hardens into concrete, while the middle is mush and the end none existent. The worst that can happen is I don’t finish it. I have to keep reminding myself to stop worrying about the quality of the prose and just get it down. All of it.

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For Two Weeks I Slowed Down Time

Okay, not literally. The interval between seconds didn’t actually lengthen. Time didn’t tick by slower than usual. People around me didn’t speak with a drawl or move in slow motion. There were no redshifts or time dilation effects that I noticed. It wasn’t as if I was launched into space at near light speed and returned to Earth to find my husband an old man, hunched over, grasping a walking cane, and my boys with gray hair and grandchildren. Nothing like that.

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