From the Editors: April’s ‘Ouch’

July/August 2008 Issue | Posted by Tom and April Hoopes in Editor's Note

April: Ouch. Sometimes an issue of Faith & Family hits you right between the eyes.

Someone came up to me after Mass recently and told me, “I’ve just got to thank you for that last issue of the magazine. It seemed like every article was written for me!” Now I know what she means.

First, there’s the Marriage Matters (page 21). In each issue, we feature the story of a marriage that walks up to the brink of disaster, then steps back and turns around. In this case, the problem that almost pushed them over the edge was too much volunteering. It’s a balance I have always struggled to find.

But right after that comes the “Open (page 27), and I love the idea of being the house that everyone hangs out at! I want our house to be clean enough to be that house! So now I need to rework my housecleaning to-do list …

Then comes “Fat to Fit” (page 31) — and just at the time I was comparing my measurements to what they were in college.

I drove a Grand Am back then. Now I drive a Ford Ecoliner. And my car isn’t all that has grown.

Tom: Well, those measurements haven’t grown that much. And April isn’t mentioning that her waistline has shrunk recently, since her exercise routine has returned with the warmer weather. 

Which brings up another issue in April’s “Ouch.” It’s a women’s thing, I think. Here she is seeing the dark side of these articles and her life. She could just as easily have pointed out that she is a successfully recovering volunteer-aholic, and that our house has been the site of impressive boarding, crowd-control, and cooking experiments involving outsiders of late.

The thing that most reminded me of April in this issue was Rebecca Teti’s piece (page 13) on the anniversary of (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women). This is stuff April studied when she got her master’s degree at the John Paul II Institute for Studies of Marriage and Family, during which time she also had two babies.

I’ll never forget the day April announced to me that a troubled friend had inquired about the faith, and so she gave her Mulieris Dignatatem. It seemed like a huge mistake to me. But it helped change her friend’s life. I learned never to doubt April’s instincts.

April: Well, that’s very nice. Tom exaggerates on all fronts (and omits key facts), but it’s nice of him, and I get his point. We women need to see the bright spots — not just the shadows — in our lives!

Which brings me to the last article in this magazine that felt like it was written for me: Susie Lloyd’s Back Porch. Read it for an attitude adjustment. She doesn’t ask, “Which age of a child is the most obnoxious, needy, or disobedient?” Instead, she asks and answers the question … well, turn to page 96 and see!

Tom and April Hoopes, Editorial Directors

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