Love Warrior | (September 2016 Meeting)

Author: Glennon Doyle Melton

One-sentence summary: Glennon chronicles several obstacles in her life and how she has come to see herself as a Love Warrior.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 9

Our favorite thing about it: The honesty.

Our least favorite thing about it: Insight into the mind of an addict can be frustrating if you’ve never been an addict. (This is being very picky – there wasn’t really anything we didn’t like.)

Main Topics of Discussion: Addiction, Marriage, Parenting, Body Image/Eating, Religion

Our favorite quote: “You are not supposed to be happy all the time. Life hurts and it's hard. Not because you're doing it wrong, but because it hurts for everybody. Don't avoid the pain. You need it. It's meant for you. Be still with it, let it come, let it go, let it leave you with the fuel you'll burn to get your work done on this earth.”

Notes: The first things we said about this book besides that we all loved it was that the writing and organization was excellent and it was Honest. Brutally honest. Next, we all commented that it was a rare look into the mind of an addict and someone who has body issues. That was enlightening for those of us who do not fully understand those things. Other than that, here are some things we discussed:

• We found it interesting and true to our own lives that children who grow up in the same house can have vastly different experiences and lives. Parenting matters, but sometimes kids are hardwired to view themselves and the world in such a way that makes life harder for them.
• We discussed the ways that Glennon said friends should NOT react to another friend who is going through something hard or who is in pain. These were helpful.
• We discussed how “religion” gets in the way of Jesus’ message to those in pain or who are struggling. We talked about specifically how to avoid that in our own lives.
• We marveled at how real, courageous, and raw parts of this book were. We really appreciated Glennon opening up these parts of her life to teach all of us important truths about life and love.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We had our first birthday balloon drop for Dara’s birthday. We also brought her birthday books and cards as usual. Also, Rachel found out during our meeting that her credit card number had been stolen and used fraudulently. Boo.

What We Ate: We met at Chuy’s for dinner and several of us had the pork taco special. We all had margaritas or frozen sangrias. Then we moved to Henry’s Homemade Ice Cream to discuss the book and have some birthday ice cream dessert for Dara’s birthday celebration!