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Stylist Refuses to Shave Depressed Teen’s Hair, Instead Teaches People a “Lesson” With 13-Hour Haircut

"At the end of the day I want this to be a lesson to people."

To My Wife of 16 Years, Here’s the Secret I Wish I Knew Before Our Divorce Papers…

"After losing a woman that I loved, and a marriage of almost 16 years, here’s the advice I wish I would have had…"

Daughter Texts Mom “I’ll Be Home Soon” from Burger King Bathroom—20 Minutes Later, Her Worst Nightmare Comes True

"She's my only daughter, my best friend. She was supposed to start her new job today, now she's on life support.”

Kara Lawler

Kara Lawler is a wife, mother, and teacher who writes regularly in her own space, Mothering the Divide, and shares a nightly story on her Facebook page. She has been married to her high school sweetheart for 15 years, is a mother of two small children who inform all of her writing and her perspective, and has been an English teacher for 16 years. Together with her family, she does small scale farming on the family homestead, Aisling House (Aisling is Irish for “dream”), a southern-style farmhouse located in the Appalachian mountains of Pennsylvania. Much of her work draws on the natural world found just right outside her door. The divide to her is mothering all of these parts of her life, as she mothers her children. As she sees it, the divide is trying to balance it all and embracing the beauty of mothering, in general. Kara writes about children and identity with a spiritual, reverent tone. Often, her work is a form of prayer, as she truly believes that observation is a form of prayer. Her writing is honest and authentic, and while she acknowledges, openly, that parenting and marriage aren't easy, she truly believes that nothing worth doing usually is. Being a mom and a wife can be work, but that very work she considers to be vocational. Becoming and being someone's mother has been a journey for her--a journey of self-discovery as she mothers these pieces of her heart.

The Secret to Marriage Is Staying Quiet

"I wonder if my marriage has survived almost 15 years (and 22 years of a relationship) because we’ve learned just to accept our petty flaws? Because we’ve stayed quiet?"