Sarah M. Wells is the author of The Family Bible Devotional (2018), Pruning Burning Bushes (2012), and a chapbook of poems, Acquiesce, winner of the 2008 Starting Gate Award through Finishing Line Press (2009). Sarah's work has been honored with four Pushcart Prize nominations, and her essays have appeared in the notable essays list in the Best American Essays 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017. She recently completed a memoir-in-essays, American Honey, about marriage and the complications of being a wife, mom, career person, and woman. Sarah is the director of content marketing at Spire Advertising, associate editor for River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative, and regular blog contributor at Off the Page, a ministry of Our Daily Bread. She resides in Ashland, Ohio with her husband and three young children.
Fall 2015: Learning about Patience The fall of 2015 began Donkey’s Farewell Tour – Brandon’s last season of working on the road with ESPN. When he was gone, he was out late eating great food and drinking bourbon with friends. When he was home, he was impatient, irritable, distant, and angry. I walked a deserted … More Marriage: Year Thirteen
December 2014: Learning about Chocolate Cake and Bourbon One thing I learned in December 2014: Don’t try to keep up with the guys who are drinking bourbon at your new job’s end-of-year party and also eat chocolate cake the night before you’re supposed to fly to Connecticut for a wedding. You will recover before the … More Marriage: Year Twelve
Fall 2013: Learning about Landmark Occasions Celebrating ten years together feels like circling around for a victory lap. Whew! We made it! Nothing seems impossible now. We travel together to Blacksburg, Virginia. Brandon’s gift to me this anniversary is a new engagement ring and an original song, and it feels like a brand new promise, … More Marriage: Year Eleven
Fall 2012: Learning Why We Make Vows Here is one thing I learned in the fall of 2012: There are some people in the world who don’t care about your marriage vows. Here is another thing I learned in the fall of 2012: I do. There is tension, temptation, strength, and fear between those two … More Marriage: Year Ten
January 2012: Learning about Nutrition Rescued by the saving grace of the Whole 30, Brandon and I became food evangelists. If 18-year-old fresh convert Sarah was obnoxious with her “everybody gets a Bible for Christmas” evangelizing, 29-year-old Paleo diet Sarah challenged her to laps around the dining room table. But cutting out dairy, cheese, sugar, … More Marriage: Year Nine
2010-2011: Learning about Delight The seventh time we get pregnant will be the last, whether it sticks or not, and this one does. Every moment of this pregnancy is treasure. This is the last time in my life I will carry the promise of a child, feel the interior pressure of kicks and movement, use … More Marriage: Year Eight
2009-2010: Learning about Friendship After the MFA program’s summer residency in August 2010 I went to the doctor to find the heartbeat of our sixth pregnancy and found none, again, and this time the sadness is buried in a dogpile of toddler and preschooler on top of me. Lydia is four and Elvis turns three … More Marriage: Year Seven
This is entry #6 leading up to celebrating 15 years of marriage. 2008-2009: Learning the Value of Tradition (and Repetition) What do you do when your kids are one and two? You walk to the park every sunny day. You eat breakfast and snack and lunch and nap and snack and dinner and bathe and … More Marriage: Year Six
This is entry #5 leading up to celebrating 15 years of marriage. Fall 2007: Learning about Limits We moved to Ashland the last weekend of October, just as every family in town tucked away their yard furniture and pets to begin their winter hibernation. After being a full-time teacher and three-season high school coach, Brandon … More Marriage: Year Five
This is entry #4 leading up to celebrating 15 years of marriage. 2006-2007: Learning about Miracles When we found out about Elvis, Lydia was six months old and we weren’t even trying to get pregnant (except we were doing everything you’d normally do to get pregnant). Apparently sometimes it really does just happen. Being pregnant … More Marriage: Year Four
