Author: Elizabeth Newdom

It took me a long while to consider the title for this blog. I wanted something that defined me both as a person and a writer. A name that would also perhaps speak to a particular audience. Why “The Astronaut Wife?” Since my early days of blogging, I have leaned toward more of a confessional style of writing, to some degree. I write as much truth as I can muster at each phase of life. In addition, I also come from a conservative Southern family, and I have grown very far from those roots. You could say I have rocketed to the moon in terms of my upbringing. I have rocketed away from debilitating family dynamics, from worldviews that held me beneath a rock. In my thirties, and now my early to mid-forties, I have learned to live more comfortably with both sides of the moon and write just as much about the raw, dark places as the light ones. Don’t quote me on that, though. It’s quite likely I will lean more heavily toward one or the other depending on which way the wind is blowing. Then, we get to the wife part, and quite frankly, this is where the feminist in me bucked and brayed. Identifying myself as “wife” has felt simply stymieing, particularly since becoming a mother six and a half years ago. But if the truth is going to be told, being a wife to my particular husband has altered my entire shape and has given voice to much of the inner deep. So in fact, becoming a wife was the singular most life-changing moment for me in my journey to the moon and back. Fellow travelers, you can feel safe and comfortable here. What matters more than what you might “get” about me is what you might take for yourself.

Free Fallin’, Captain Marvel Style

March 28, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

I was a good girl. Loved my mama. Loved Jesus. And my boyfriend, too. (Never really crazy about Elvis, though.) But I digress. I’ve been living in my own Carol Danvers story, minus the alien abduction and the radical transition into a badass nuclear-energy fighting machine or some such. What I mean is, I’ve […]

Cease, and then again Begin

March 18, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

I have this tendency, so I have been told, to ask my husband, Eric, if he can take the trash out, feed our son breakfast, or if he knows what time he’ll be home in the evening, before even saying “Good morning.” The sun is up, and my brain goes into chore mode, checking-off-list mode, […]

Mother Time

February 24, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

I got out of bed at 9:30 a.m. today. My husband had already fed our son and our two cats, showered, and gone to work. When my feet hit the floor and I grabbed my cell to see the time, I knew that my son, Asher, had likely been playing video games for an indeterminate […]

Somewhere in the Distance

February 1, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

I’ve been taking an online workshop, mostly in preparation for trying to create one of my own. Now, cue the impostor syndrome, which kicks in…right…about…..now. Yep, right on cue. No sooner do the words “I want to teach my own workshop” or “have my own business” or “create something inspiring” leave the thought bubbles in […]

Healing a Broken Heart

January 26, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

I have to come clean about something. I have spent a chunk of my winter break (six whole weeks) vacillating between despair and gratitude. It’s not that typical for me to be down around the Christmas holiday, but this year, I was feeling pretty low. With my semester grades due just a handful of days […]

One Room at a Time

January 12, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

This is my first post of the new year, and I am surprised I made it to January 12 without putting together some thoughts for this little blog. When I am not steeping myself in British literature for the upcoming semester, I am often steeping in silence and stillness. However, I needed to get past […]

It’s Time

December 29, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

On the recommendation of a good friend, I am reading The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs, the great-great-great granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It’s a beautiful memoir about cancer and loss. You’d think this would be a depressing read but quite the opposite. Her tone is light, and her ability to tackle death with curiosity […]