{"id":6984,"date":"2014-07-27T18:08:39","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T18:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=6984"},"modified":"2014-07-27T19:11:58","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T19:11:58","slug":"guest-post-laura-rodley-meeting-the-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2014\/07\/guest-post-laura-rodley-meeting-the-father\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Laura Rodley “Meeting the Father”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meeting the Father<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sister Isabelle Rose has met the Father,<\/p>\n

sits swinging in a long roped swing<\/p>\n

descending from Heaven where mists<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

rise like those over the Holyoke Bridge.<\/p>\n

She sits swinging, her body slim<\/p>\n

her hair light brown, curled,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

no glasses set upon her nose,<\/p>\n

happy to be held in God\u2019s grace<\/p>\n

but not in his arms, just as she<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

was in the convent<\/p>\n

when married to his son, Jesus Christ,<\/p>\n

swinging through the mists<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the belt tight on her waist<\/p>\n

her boots laced up knee high<\/p>\n

for sixty-eight years<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

married to Jesus Christ<\/p>\n

whose hand she never held,<\/p>\n

though his face shone before her<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

in prayer and statues throughout the convent.<\/p>\n

Swinging on the wooden board<\/p>\n

her earthly father had fashioned<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

in their tiny backyard, their only tree<\/p>\n

before he died, leaving the four children<\/p>\n

and her despairing mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She left two suitors,<\/p>\n

gave up her name Evelyn,<\/p>\n

not allowed more than monthly visits<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

from her earthly family; she joined another,<\/p>\n

chose another father<\/p>\n

just as far away in spirit<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

but alive and glowing in her heart<\/p>\n

a familiar love she could sustain,<\/p>\n

not give up, not to anyone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Laura Rodley<\/strong> \u00a9 2014
\nPushcart Prize<\/strong> winner and nominated for Best of the Net<\/strong> five times, Laura Rodley<\/strong> has had work published in Best Indie Lit New England<\/em>, Massachusetts Review<\/em>, and Hunger Mountain<\/em> among others.\u00a0 She is editor and publisher<\/strong> of As You Write It, A<\/strong><\/em>
\n Franklin County Anthology,<\/strong><\/em> a compilation of memoirs from seniors age 70 through 95.<\/p>\n

She also contributes features such as “For better or worse”<\/a> and “Red Fire Farm and the secrets for success<\/a>,” and “Having trouble with invasives? Try goats as your extractors”<\/a> to Country Folks<\/strong><\/em>, the Weekly Farm Paper Highlighting Agriculture.<\/p>\n

She has two chapbooks from Finishing Line Press<\/strong>: Rappelling Blue Light<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and Your Left Front Wheel Is Coming Loose<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meeting the Father Sister Isabelle Rose has met the Father, sits swinging in a long roped swing descending from Heaven where mists   rise like those over the Holyoke Bridge. She sits swinging, her body slim her hair light brown, curled,   no glasses set upon her nose, happy to be held in God\u2019s grace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,127,2215,12,1013,205,2214,13,7,16,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-6984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-guest-posts","7":"tag-anthology","8":"tag-contributors-2","9":"tag-devotion","10":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","11":"tag-faith","12":"tag-laura-rodley","13":"tag-nuns","14":"tag-poetry","15":"tag-solace","16":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","17":"tag-weighed-words","18":"entry","19":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6984"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7033,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984\/revisions\/7033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}