introductions and things...

who's Faith and what's she about?

Who am I?

My mom had multiple miscarriages before having me, and my grandmother prayed for me to be born. When my mom found out she was pregnant, she was put on bed rest for most of the pregnancy. She blamed me for her significant weight gain… laying in bed all day was one of the prices she paid to make sure I came into the world. So, when I was finally born, my mom had to name me “Faith”. She told my grandmother that I was “the substance of things hoped for”.

Me: 8 months, 1 year old, 3 years old

Growing up, I heard this story a lot! Knowing that I was wanted, prayed for, sacrificed for, just so I could be here, gave me a sense of the bigness and the interconnectedness of everything. So many decisions and actions of so many people culminated in my being here typing at my computer right now. I knew that MY decisions and actions would be gateways and miracles and gifts in people’s lives… and so I became careful, intentional, pragmatic. I wanted to do it right! That way, I could have the RIGHT kind of impact.

Little did I know that a life of faith (and actually, all living) had very little to do with controlling outcomes…

Relationships are Portals

This writing space will have stories and reflections of me in Life, learning from Life, figuring out what being faithful to practicing authentic Faith Ann-ness is all about, while loving and caring for those around me.

I’ve come to realize that I’m committed to a kind of radical relationship building that feels sacred to me. I believe that relationships are portals. They are doorways into thin spaces, where God does God’s work, magic happens, wormholes appear and we get to become more like who we want to be… if we allow the metamorphosis.

So, whether I’m in a non-profit supporting restorative work culture design, or designing an anti-racism training, or laughing with my bff of 30 years at the Korean BBQ , or building out a team intuition development plan, or navigating the existential crises of young adult offspring, I try to center the connection, the relationship - that place where the magic happens. And sometimes, I get to see it. At other times, I get to have faith…

But Specifically… (what will this be about?)

In recent years, it’s been hard to write about a specific thing, hard to niche, hard to be specific. It always feels reductive to me. Maybe it’s the way my mind works, but I can be listening to an audiobook, romance/mystery story with military K9s and get a teamwork idea which reminds me of some grief to do with my kids… everything is connected and as I get older, separating stuff gets harder. So here is where I’ll give up the struggle to separate the threads. In this substack, I’ll write about the (often messy) connections that I see, how I engage with them, how they interact with me, and what I think that means for connection and relationship with the humans I get to do life with.

So, I’ll write about … ALL THE THINGS.

When Will I Write?

I'm not sure when I’ll be writing here, but my hope is to write weekly. New year, new habits, and I’ve blocked writing time on Mondays in my calendar for at least a year now. So maybe it’s time to take that appointment with myself. And, once I’ve gotten into the flow of things, it will be fun to post some conversations with other humans who want to upend supremacist systems 😃. I’ll keep you posted about that.

I’ll stop here today (laundry is calling to me quite loudly) and look forward to connecting with you about the full everything-ness, or as much of it as I can capture in under 800 words (my personal limit).

Promise me one thing: subscribe and read (or listen to) at least 4 posts, and then send me a message or comment with your thoughts or feelings about the posts. And, if you know me and want me to talk about something specific or want to be in a recorded conversation with me about something in a post, let me know! I’d LOVE to connect.

With Love… Faith

Me and mine: cartoon style and in real life, plus the professional headshot :-)