Mama's Boy

Weighty Issues: Mama Gets enLIGHTened

by Jessica Berger Gross

During the years I waited for M.B. to arrive, all I wanted to write about was motherhood, and my longing for a child. There was the Passport to Parenting column series for Literary Mama; magazine and anthology essays about infertility and adoption and about my difficult relationship with my own mother and father; and my anthology About What Was Lost: 20 Writers on Miscarriage Healing, and Hope.

Once I became pregnant, I found that I had other things to say. My new mother-to-be status freed me to explore sides of myself I hadn't written about much before. In creating M.B., I had the urge to create a new, sunnier writing voice, too.

In my (relatively) energized second trimester, in between the morning sickness, exhaustion, and headaches of the first trimester and the aches and pains, exhaustion and headaches of the third, I wrote the opening chapters and proposal for a book (part memoir, part lifestyle guide) about yoga philosophy and healthy eating. My hope was to share what I'd come to learn from The Yoga Sutras -- an ancient yoga text -- about how to lead a healthier, happier life.

I was thrilled when the news came that Skyhorse Publishing would be publishing my new book, enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, Vegetarian Chili, a Monkey Temple, and a Beagle Pointer from West Virginia in 2009. For the next six months, my limited writing time (thank you to Neil and to my new and fabulous babysitter Alexa for providing these precious hours) is going to be funneled into meeting my January 1st deadline, and I'll be taking a hiatus from writing my Mama's Boy columns.

I promise to return early in 2009, with new stories to share. M.B. will be a year old, and I can't even imagine how many lessons he'll have taught me by then. In the meantime, give your Mama's boys and Mama's girls a hug from me, and thank you so much for reading.

Comments (3)

Jessica Berger Gross is the editor of the award-winning anthology About What Was Lost: 20 Writers on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope. Her column about international adoption, Passport to Parenting, appeared regularly on Literary Mama. Her writing has also appeared in Salon, Yoga Journal, Yoga International and Healing Lifestyles & Spas, and in the anthology It's a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters. She's performed her bad teenage poetry in the comedy show Mortified. Jessica has taught memoir writing at the Harvard Extension School and will be teaching a creative non-fiction workshop in the BFA program at the University of British Columbia. She and her husband and son recently moved to Vancouver, Canada.




Read the Introduction Recent Columns The Making of a Mama's Boy Two Kinds of Men Surrendering to Blue Boys, Boys, Everywhere Falling for M.B. The Birth of a Mama's Boy, The Birth of a Mama Mama’s Boy Heads West Mama's Boy is Growing Up Weighty Issues: Mama Gets enLIGHTened Archives "Mama's Boy" Archives E-zine Don't have time to check for updates? Let us come to you! Click here to subscribe or unsubscribe to the Literary Mama E-zine. Literary Mama About Us Submissions Contact Privacy Policy Literary Mama Bookshop Literary Mama Gear Powered by Movable Type 3.16	Mama's Boy Weighty Issues: Mama Gets enLIGHTened by Jessica Berger Gross During the years I waited for M.B. to arrive, all I wanted to write about was motherhood, and my longing for a child. There was the Passport to Parenting column series for Literary Mama; magazine and anthology essays about infertility and adoption and about my difficult relationship with my own mother and father; and my anthology About What Was Lost: 20 Writers on Miscarriage Healing, and Hope. Once I became pregnant, I found that I had other things to say. My new mother-to-be status freed me to explore sides of myself I hadn't written about much before. In creating M.B., I had the urge to create a new, sunnier writing voice, too. In my (relatively) energized second trimester, in between the morning sickness, exhaustion, and headaches of the first trimester and the aches and pains, exhaustion and headaches of the third, I wrote the opening chapters and proposal for a book (part memoir, part lifestyle guide) about yoga philosophy and healthy eating. My hope was to share what I'd come to learn from The Yoga Sutras -- an ancient yoga text -- about how to lead a healthier, happier life. I was thrilled when the news came that Skyhorse Publishing would be publishing my new book, enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, Vegetarian Chili, a Monkey Temple, and a Beagle Pointer from West Virginia in 2009. For the next six months, my limited writing time (thank you to Neil and to my new and fabulous babysitter Alexa for providing these precious hours) is going to be funneled into meeting my January 1st deadline, and I'll be taking a hiatus from writing my Mama's Boy columns. I promise to return early in 2009, with new stories to share. M.B. will be a year old, and I can't even imagine how many lessons he'll have taught me by then. In the meantime, give your Mama's boys and Mama's girls a hug from me, and thank you so much for reading. Comments (3) Jessica Berger Gross is the editor of the award-winning anthology About What Was Lost: 20 Writers on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope. Her column about international adoption, Passport to Parenting, appeared regularly on Literary Mama. Her writing has also appeared in Salon, Yoga Journal, Yoga International and Healing Lifestyles & Spas, and in the anthology It's a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters. She's performed her bad teenage poetry in the comedy show Mortified. Jessica has taught memoir writing at the Harvard Extension School and will be teaching a creative non-fiction workshop in the BFA program at the University of British Columbia. She and her husband and son recently moved to Vancouver, Canada.