Once upon a time there was a girl who believed in god. Not her mother’s god and for sure not her father’s god who was a grim strict guy who insisted that you walk to church instead of bike or drive or god forbid (haha) stay home, and she stopped going to that god place, and stopped talking to that dad, and made her way to a different god place with a beautiful girl who had the name of the seasons, and she was happy for a time.
There was another girl who didn’t believe in god at all. She thought it was all pretty stupid although she liked the treats she got at the god place and the gold crosses and the candies and the other things that came along with being with believers in the god thing. Like fancy colorful windows and pictures. She got to drive to god with her mother and her father and it was the mother who was really into the god thing, but since she — the mother — didn’t like to drive the god thing couldn’t be such a BIG thing because of the logistics. So when the girl decided “nope, no more god for me!” it was a pain in the ass kind of thing, but also a funny thing, because when the girl stopped going, the dad stopped going to the god place too, and since he was the driver, the mother didn’t go anymore either. The mom was mad at first but then she figured it out. She prayed at home. The mother would go out and pray at the roses, and pray at the driveway and pray at the birds and the sky, and she imagined that’s what people did in the olden days before god places, and she was fine with it actually, in the end, as well.
If you believe in god you have to be flexible.
Would it surprise you that these 2 girls became women who became coworkers, then friends and then lovers and then spouses? Perhaps it’s not a surprise, but isn’t it nice and isn’t it symmetrical that the girl with the god-loving dad and the girl with the god-loving mom could come together, one believing and one not, and be in love and it all be ok? That people can believe different things and still love each other? A lot?
Well, that last part is a bit surprising isn’t it? And isn’t it somewhat wondrous? It makes me think that maybe there IS a god after all, although woman #2 is rolling her eyes and laughing at me for thinking/writing this. But woman #1 is nodding with large lustrous eyes at me and the computer screen and saying yes I think so yes.
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 