Essays + Narratives

In the weeks leading up to my diagnosis, amid numerous doctor visits, ultrasounds, and poking and prodding of biopsies, my husband, Casey, and I were puzzled about this mysterious lump on my breast. In conversations with my doctors and nurses, they kept throwing around this word which–at the time–seemed so vulgar.  “Watch your language!” my […]

SUMMARY AND GUEST BIO: It’s Month 2 of the She Is Kindred podcast and we are opening up our next series–Living in the Tension: Holding Space for Grief and Hope. Britt sits down with her long-time, sister-friend of over 20 years, Andrea Malarkey, who braved one of the toughest challenges anyone can face: cancer. Andrea […]

It was March 2007. Our lovely daughter, teacher extraordinaire, faithful friend Leslie was diagnosed with stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer, at the age of 31. We were completely broken at hearing the news, something a parent never wants to hear: cancer. No matter their ages our children are still ours—flesh of my flesh, bone of […]

She’s the one you don’t hesitate to text or callor justshow up on her doorstep,suitcase in the trunk, packed with brasthat have been outgrown,the green shirt with the holethat you can’t bring yourself to toss,and a marriage that has expired,rotted past its good-until date. She’s the one who hearsthrough your words,finds the tremble in your […]

TRIGGER WARNING: mention of stillborn/infant death SUMMARY AND GUEST BIO: In the fourth episode of the She is Kindred Podcast, Britt chats with three of her closest friends, Erica Pitchers, Elysia King, and Eva Robinson. Together, they have been through both joyful and tumultuous seasons of life and have found ways to love well in […]

We met as teenagers entering adulthood, the way young college students do – through mutual friends and shared love interests. I was reserved and guarded; Erica was extroverted and unexpected. Our first conversation was at a dingy IHOP booth, in the thick of Missouri summers, where the cracked blue plastic cushions stick to your legs […]