Turtle Soup Is Enough: Laughing and Biking When Everything Falls Apart by Margaret O’Connor IS LIVE!!!

Turtle Soup Is Enough: Laughing and Biking When Everything Falls Apart <— MEMOIR!! HER WHOLE WORLD FELL APART… IT’S IS LIVE & the author is today’s post & newsletter sponsor!! 😀

So what’s it about?

Did you know that the fluid in your spinal cord is the same color as lemonade? I sat and watched it drip from my little brother’s limp body into a medical bag on his bedside, as one of his surgeons told us the news that nearly shredded my faith to chaff.

“This kid will never walk again.”

These essays were written during the worst year of my life. I wrote them for one of my college classes, answering various prompts on the theme of place. I didn’t know at the time that I was chronicling a fight for my existence.

My family and faith have never been about fitting in. We don’t believe in God because of what they say at church. We see him in the mud that cakes our jeans and the laughter we share around the campfire, drinking beer and listening to the grisly stories our dad brings home from the ER. Our faith in God has never been about propriety; it’s been about relationship.

How can you reconcile that kind of faith when it seems like God stands by as your whole world falls apart?

When my faith went up in flames, I found truth like I never had before. Sometimes God shatters you to shatter the lies you didn’t know you believed, and there’s nothing left to do but buck up and face what’s right.

Faith is tested, hope victorious, and valuable lessons are learned along the way in this raw, wildly funny and inappropriate memoir.

In the poignant memoir, “Turtle Soup Is Enough,” the author navigates through the most challenging year of their life, a period marked by a devastating family tragedy. The narrative unfolds as a collection of essays, initially penned for a college course, unknowingly becoming a chronicle of the author’s existential struggle.

The author’s faith, deeply rooted in familial bonds and the simple joys of life, is brutally tested when their younger brother suffers a life-altering accident. The family’s unconventional faith, found not in church sermons but in the mud-streaked jeans and shared laughter around a campfire, is shaken to its core. The author grapples with the seeming indifference of God as their world crumbles around them.

Yet, in the midst of this turmoil, they discover a profound truth. Sometimes, it takes a shattering experience to break free from the lies we unknowingly believe. This memoir is a raw, humor-laced exploration of faith under fire, the triumph of hope, and the invaluable lessons learned along the journey.

About the author:

I’m Margaret O’Connor, an English teacher and published author with a Master’s degree in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Denver. I’ve penned a raw, humorous memoir about faith, family, and resilience amidst life’s most challenging trials.