Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

To Battle 'Inner Emptiness,' Mom Goes on a Two-Year Trek Around the World
Yahoo Parenting ^ | 3/24/2015 | Erin Zammett Ruddy

Posted on 03/24/2015 8:55:40 AM PDT by qam1

In her breathtaking new memoir, Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World published Tuesday, Leigh Ann Henion, 37, writes of the birth of her 5-year-old son Archer: “I love and marvel over him as if he were my own heart pushed into the world and, still beating, set on top of my chest. Yet I cannot help but mourn the loss of something I can’t quite place. I have an inner emptiness—literal and figurative—that I’ve never felt before.”

What follows is a raw, sometimes gut-wrenching account of the dark and lonely place Henion finds herself in as she cares for a colicky, wakeful baby. Eventually Henion, a travel writer, realizes the only way out of her identity crisis is to leave her home in Boone, North Carolina and venture out into the world that once provided her so much peace and purpose. So shortly after Archer’s first birthday, Henion embarks — sometimes alone, sometimes with her husband — on a two-year trek around the world (with some stops home in between).....


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: identitycrisis; itsallaboutme; selfishliberals
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last
To: GeronL

“She could have went to church”

The central focus of church is not her....so...no


61 posted on 03/24/2015 11:00:04 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you are not part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: AppyPappy

So true


62 posted on 03/24/2015 11:01:13 AM PDT by GeronL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick

“Shoot me.”

Too much effort. Run into the bullet while I watch the game. Beer me first.


63 posted on 03/24/2015 11:01:20 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you are not part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Kozak

I had trouble reading carefully because I found the alleged mother too revolting for words. Thank you for the correction.


64 posted on 03/24/2015 11:02:53 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: qam1
The article is full of stuff like this

"I felt so isolated — like I was supposed to do everything on my own. If I asked for help or needed to go out with friends for a night, I felt like that would be cheating, looking at someone else’s paper. You know the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child?’ I wasn’t letting the village in. I truly thought that in order to be a good mother, I was supposed to not exist."

I don't have any kids yet, but COME ON! Is it really this hard?!?

65 posted on 03/24/2015 11:07:46 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sten

Grammaw


66 posted on 03/24/2015 11:12:53 AM PDT by steve8714 (Traditional Catholics want Latin Mass. Traditional Muslims want your head.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: thefactor

It’s hard if you are a Drama Momma.
In my parents time, the father took the mother on a trip within 6 months of birth to “break” the obsessive nature of motherhood.
It’s hard depending on you respond to it. If you freak out every time the baby cries, yeah, it’s going to suck.


67 posted on 03/24/2015 11:18:40 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you are not part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Exactly what I was thinking. I am surprised she has a husband. But at least he is there to care for the child while she goes and “finds” herself. I suspect she has no respect for her husband. I suspect she will divorce him and join some lesbian and become an environmental activist.


68 posted on 03/24/2015 11:58:51 AM PDT by Organic Panic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Organic Panic

Another poster up thread what’s this is not what the full article sayS. It appears I may have been a victim of misleading headline


69 posted on 03/24/2015 12:01:29 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

LOL!


70 posted on 03/24/2015 12:35:03 PM PDT by gibsosa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: raybbr; trisham

Yes, inner emptiness or depression is very painful. It sounds as though she found a sort of “nature as God” that works for her. It’s certainly better than booze or drugs!


71 posted on 03/24/2015 12:35:50 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Google "tiny kitten pictures," and put down the gun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: BykrBayb

Thanks for asking! It’s a little cold for me, but the sound of lawnmowing is agreeable, even if it’s not any of MY laconic teens doing it.


72 posted on 03/24/2015 12:38:39 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Google "tiny kitten pictures," and put down the gun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: thefactor

Yes.


73 posted on 03/24/2015 12:40:25 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Google "tiny kitten pictures," and put down the gun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick

That’s certainly true.


74 posted on 03/24/2015 12:45:53 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick
I only had my mom as an example. A single mother who worked the graveyard shift as an ER nurse for 30-some years and probably took three vacations away from our home in that time. And this woman is complaining about this "it takes a village" nonsense while going on incredible trips for weeks at a time.

Now, I'm well aware that life isn't fair and even. But who's going to feel sorry for this world-traveling mother with one kid?

75 posted on 03/24/2015 1:01:13 PM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: thefactor
She was writing about how it feels when you believe that you, as the mother, must be absolutely everything to your child, and that you can have nothing else in your life. It's easy to believe this. After all, you "chose" to have a child, and that "choice" eliminated the choices to ... go out to dinner with a girlfriend; sleep at night; visit your parents; see a movie; ask anyone for help; ad infinitum.

Some people apparently succeed at this, which puts extra pressure on all the rest ... except when you actually get to know the "models," they're on antidepressants.

But who's going to feel sorry for this world-traveling mother with one kid?

Someone with compassion?

76 posted on 03/24/2015 1:13:13 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Google "tiny kitten pictures," and put down the gun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
Oh, you're no fun, anymore. ;)

Not fun, but very thin: I gave up wine for Lent.

77 posted on 03/24/2015 1:15:36 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Google "tiny kitten pictures," and put down the gun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick
I'm sorry, but this woman obviously has found a way to enjoy an incredibly full life AFTER she had a kid. She's proving that all the troubles she had when her son was born have been easily tossed aside and she can travel the world in order to find herself. So if she can do it, why can't others? Just follow her advice, and POOF! No more worries. Of course, that's nonsense. This particular woman has the means to live like this while many, many others do not.

And yeah, children are a choice. I live in NYC. I know plenty of people who will never have kids and they are fine with that decision. And I know people with kids who never should have had them.

78 posted on 03/24/2015 1:24:06 PM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: dware
If she can afford this, and I can't, then obviously they are NOT paying their fair share.

Well since she wrote about her travels in her book, she probably deducted the cost of these trips off her taxes as a business expense.

79 posted on 03/24/2015 1:29:47 PM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick

The sound of a lawnmower spells nap time for me! :~0


80 posted on 03/24/2015 1:35:16 PM PDT by BykrBayb (Where there is life, there is hope. - Terri Schiavo ~ Þ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson