Welcome to at last she said it. A podcast where women of faith come together to

acknowledge that it's complicated and support each other while we figure it out.

Hi friends, it's Susan.

For this short bonus episode, I wanted to share with you an essay I wrote several years ago. It was after Cynthia and I had begun

having conversations, but before either one of us had uttered the line, somebody should do a

podcast, and certainly before we'd conceived of the idea of doing one ourselves.

I don't think anyone's seen this essay, except the editor who decided it wasn't quite right for their publication, and Cynthia.

As a result of our ongoing discussion, I'd sent it to her when I finished it because it touched on so many things that we'd been talking about.

I remember the note I received from her after she read it.

She said she was sitting under her tree, crying a little, and she

wondered if I'd mind if she called her neighbor to come over and read the last

part to her, because apparently it spoke to some of the things that they'd

been talking about too. Well, no writer ever minds

someone wanting to read their work, so of course I said yes. Then I slipped the essay into the

metaphorical drawer of a computer folder and I mostly forgot about it.

But the ideas have persisted for me.

You'll recognize in it many seeds of the conversations that Cynthia and I had in season

one.

I'm pleased to have a reason to pull it out of the drawer now. I hope you enjoy it.

Dancing with the patriarchy.

When I was a child, my grandfather owned a dance hall in Central Utah.

Sometimes if I was lucky, I'd get to go with him to check on the Saturday night dance.

...