Share Now
Welcome Back!
It’s been a few months since Girl, Groomed launched on April 22, and I’m still deeply moved by how it’s resonated with so many of you. Whether this is your first time reading the newsletter or you’ve been with me since the beginning, I’m so glad you’re here—part of this growing, healing community.
In each newsletter, I’ll continue to share behind-the-scenes glimpses, personal reflections, and updates on what’s ahead—because healing doesn’t end with the final page.
Last time, I shared the story of finding my old leather chaps—tucked away in the back of a closet, wrapped in plastic like a time capsule. I didn’t expect that moment to stir so much. But holding them again brought back a part of me I thought I had left behind.
This time, I want to share what happened next because sometimes looking back is exactly what helps us move forward.
When the past still fits — and teaches us how to heal.
Like we would cure our saddles back in those days, I recalled how I had first taken these stiff, unfamiliar sheets of leather to the horse trough and thoroughly submerged them in water. Wet from the dunking, I strapped them on myself and climbed into the saddle atop my horse. The customized curing process had begun. Through the very act of riding, they would come to perfectly mirror the shape of my own legs, customize to my body and fit my form like an extra protective skin.
As I now held up these familiar chaps, I recognized that although they held no place in my current life, my life at the stables would always inform my story.
These chaps had connected me to the horses I loved and at the same time symbolically had armored me against the truth I wasn’t ready to face.
It’s not so easy to zip off parts of the past.
What I had ostracized had ended up fragmenting me.
In this light, I had a sudden urge to put them on. Would they still fit? Would I even remember how to secure them? But of course, my hands went through the deft movements with confident muscle memory. The strap lay comfortably low across my hips. The zipper proved resilient and fastened smoothly down the length of my legs.
They still fit like they knew me.
I recognized that there was something sacred in that moment as I stood in my Seattle home office wearing my old chaps.
They reminded me that writing a memoir was another act of integrating the past with the present.
Rediscovering these in the middle of feeling stuck acted as my clarion call. With renewed energy and purpose, this discovery spurred me on to continue writing down my story. I was inspired anew.
Support from the universe can come in the most surprising ways.
(Here I am in these same chaps fifty years later – ie a few weeks ago)
Are you aware of ways that you armor yourself?
Can you recall a time that you experienced unexpected support?
📩 Stay tuned!
More behind-the-book insights and personal reflections are coming in future newsletters. I’m so grateful to share this journey with you.
is a therapist and author of Girl, Groomed, sharing her personal story of trauma and healing. Her work blends professional expertise and personal insight to guide readers on their own journeys to resilience.
