Southern Fried Atheist: Different Facets.

Being an Atheist is only one part of me. Granted, it's been a HUGE part of me for the past year, but I am so much more than that. I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, sister, and friend. A common misconception about atheism is that just because we don't believe in god, doesn't mean our life is meaningless. In fact, my life has more meaning now, because I realize it's the only one I got. I CHERISH it more.

Being an Atheist mom was something I was worried about at first when I was starting to doubt religion. How could I be a good mom? What if I was damning my daughter, my sweet precious baby girl, to an eternity of hell fire? It was hard at first, and the guilt ate me alive. But now I can see just how stupid that all is. I can still teach my daughter how to love, and how to give back, and be a great person without god. Of course, I would never stop her from going to church, if she really wanted to go, because it's her choice to believe what she wants. So if she wanted to go with her grandma or a friend I would be ok with it. I mean, do I dread the day I have to tell her about hell, but I plan on being honest with her about why I don't believe it. It will be hard, but I will try my best to be impartial to either side.

As far as being a wife goes, I love my husband to death. He is truly the other part of my brain. He still has a belief in god, (although he hates religion just as much as I do), and he never holds it against me or makes me feel bad about my lack of belief. He completely understands where I come from with all this and in fact, has been my rock since letting go.

One of my best friends told me the other day that she was proud of me. She said that when I do something, I never do it half ass. Which is true. Go big or go home. When I let go of my belief, I felt I had to shout it from the roof tops. I also felt I had to argue with believers, (which was actually an awesome stress reliever, but not a good way to make friends lol). This chick is also a nonbeliever like me, and it's so awesome to have someone that you can confide in when it comes to letting go. I think that for a long time that was what I was missing, a community of some sort to voice my frustrations and for a long time I had none. So the anger just kept building up and building up until one day shit hit the fan and I about lost it. While I won't say I hit rock bottom, my toes were definitely grazing the surface. From that point on though, I've slowly crawled my way out of that darkness. Life has meaning again.

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. <-- Have truer words ever been spoken??

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On a lighter note, I made an awesome meatloaf for supper tonight. My secret? Left over cornbread instead of bread crumbs. It makes all the difference. As a Southern woman, I always have a "pone of cornbread" in the house.

Cooking is one of the stress relievers for me. I like getting lost in it and creating new dishes. I think everyone needs some sort of way to channel out their feelings.

I hope this post made sense, it's way past my bed time and I can't find my glasses lol. Until next time..

Peace and chicken grease..