logo
« mothers of invention: annie
mothers of invention: beth »

bra-llelujah!

i am a mother and a minister, and it struck me yesterday that these are two vocations in which one is often expected to be superhuman. and by “superhuman,” i mean not human at all; above being human; perfect. an interesting facet of this expectation of superhuman-ness is that in both cases, it includes a sort of disembodied existance. the body will get you every time, with its animal ways and love of gravity! my world is marked by clerical robes and nursing covers, both of which i am usually happy to hide behind out of fear that my body might be objectified or labeled as shameful and inappropriate.

meanwhile, young mothers in every profession are experiencing their bodies as the main event. it is difficult to ignore the body when it expands to carry another life, acts as a one-woman-catering-service for a little one, and contracts (usually in all the wrong areas) before it’s time to start the cycle again. perhaps this is why i love the kind of honesty about the body found in ayelet waldman’s bad mother:

“how well i remember [my] rack! those perky breasts that hovered just below my chin. those pert nipples. that swelling cleavage. after four children and a full seventy-two months of breast-feeding, the last six of which were spent with my nipples clamped in the death vise of a breast pump, it is only by dint of foundation garments designed by teams of MIT professors who otherwise spend their days drawing up plans for the world’s longest suspension bridges that my breasts achieve a shape even approximating round. when i undo the clasps, buckles, straps, and hoists of these miraculous feats of engineering, my boobs tumble to the ground like boulders falling off a cliff. i could polish my shoes with my nipples” (28). 

it is my job, as a minister, to talk about miracles. turning water into wine, walking on water, and raising people from the dead are common topics of conversation for me. so why, for the love of god, should i refrain from talking about the miracle-working powers of a good bra?

on the list of things that have transformed my life are things like martin buber’s i and thou, viktor frankl’s man’s search for meaning, marcus borg’s concept of jesus, and now this:

this is the SPANX bra-llelujah full-coverage, front-closureunderwire bra. yes, it is expensive, but is it really possible to put a price on comfort and this carefully-engineered, non-surgical restoration of one’s pre-kid shape?

friends, hear the good news! we do not have to super-human. we simply have to invest in super-human undergarments.

brallelujah!

[the source for this post can be found on the bibligraphy page located on the sidebar to your right.]

Tags: ayelet waldman, bad mother, bodies, boobs, bra, bra-llelujah, breasts, minister, mother, spanx

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 7:34 am and is filed under embodiment, perfection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Responses to “bra-llelujah!”

  1. Megan Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 8:56 am

    I heart this bra, my mother got if for me just before I had my first baby and I could not wait to toss the nursing bras and get this miracle of a device on – and it;s COMFORTABLE!!

  2. Sharon Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 10:43 am

    coffee out of my nose!!!!!

  3. beth Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 11:33 am

    brilliant. simply brilliant. 🙂

  4. Laura M Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 2:21 pm

    This hit the spot! I’m on the tail end of nursing I’m afraid and am in D.I.R.E. need of some new undergarments. Need a panty post next! ; )

  5. Jaime Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    Uh oh I thought after surgery my days of expensive bras were through. It appears you have introduced me to my next braffair!

  6. Carol Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    Thank you for the Good News! I am going to get one today.

  7. Sarah Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    I personally have a Jeunique bra which is AMAZING for putting my ladies back where they used to be. They have personal consultants that size you up, and they have a lot of those in-between sizes that don’t exist elsewhere. I, for instance, am a 32 CC. What is CC? It is for those people who are larger than a C, but smaller than a D. And to boot, it doubles as a nursing bra 🙂

  8. Sarah Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    Oh, but I should mention that Jeunique bras are upwards of $120.

  9. Kristina Says:
    May 11th, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    I just some Spanx for my tummy since I no longer have stomach muscles. I will have to check out this Spanx bra! Thanks for the tip.

  10. Jennifer Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    This post just made my day! Love it…and I am thinking I need to get myself a bra-llelujah. Thanks for sharing!

Leave a Reply

  • Pages

    • about
    • bibliography
    • mothers of invention questionnaire
    • nominate a friend
    • weekly meal plans
  • makeshift matters

    bad mother balance beach carpool chaos chores clubs creativity dinner friends full-time gardening giveaway great outdoor challenge guilt home-office husband in the midst of chaos jessa kitchen makeshift mary allison memphis ministry montreat motherhood mothers of invention nanny note cards pantry week part-time photographer preschool reality project re[frame] running small business staying-at-home teacher travel tv vocation wine writer yoga
  • Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

  • in the midst of chaos – play along

    THE MAKESHIFT REVOLUTION
  • related reading

    Mothers Who Think: Tales Of Reallife Parenthood
    Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race, and Themselves
    Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety
    Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace
    The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued
    Life's Work: Confessions of an Unbalanced Mom
    Also a Mother: Work and Family As Theological Dilemma
    The Human Odyssey: Life-Span Development
    I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids: Reinventing Modern Motherhood



    themsrevolution's favorite books »

  • archives

  • admin

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org

the MakeShift revolution powered by WordPress | minimalism by www.genaehr.com
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).