Love is a powerful thing. It can even overcome conversion therapy. Let’s learn more about a brave gal who listened to her heart and got “The Whole Enchilada.”
Amanda Rodenborg moved to Texas thirteen years ago after growing up in the Midwest. She is an enthusiastic, if not very accomplished, runner. A sometimes poet and craft beer aficionado, she shares a home in Dallas with her wife, Heather, and Libby the wundermutt.
Fixated Facts:
What inspired you to participate in Oral Fixation? We were sitting in the Wyly before the start of “Ducks in a Row” and my friends said I should submit a story. So, I did.
What would you name the autobiography of your life? One Wild and Precious Life – I keep coming back to the Mary Oliver poem, “The Summer Day,” as a source of inspiration, strength, and a reminder to delight in this life, because it’s the only one we’ve got.
What is your favorite smell? A campfire, because it usually means I’m surrounded by great friends, enjoying a late night conversation about love, life or theology, sharing our histories, or just singing along to an acoustic guitar.
What do you want to be when you grow up? An excellent wife and mother, a role model of strength for my someday daughters and sons, a writer and teller of stories.
What is your favorite Dallas hangout? Lakewood Growler, you’ll find me and my girl there for Tuesday Keep-the-Glass night and the best Texas craft beers on tap.
What is the best book you’ve read in the last decade and why would you recommend it? The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, has stuck with me for years. It’s an incredibly well-written novel, character-driven and thought provoking. It’s not often that a book has made me this emotional. Emilio Sandoz‘s life of profound faith and crippling loss is something I connect with on a visceral level.
Share anything fun, silly or unique about yourself. I played the sousaphone in my high school marching band.
Sneak Peek: “In the time that followed, I continued trying to be straight. I dated young men and even proved to myself that I could sleep with them, so therefore, I must be straight. I also tried different churches; going back to my Catholic roots for a while, then attending a mostly Black church. I tried a few coffeehouse and home churches. Dallas proved to be a faith salad-bar, if I didn’t like it, all I had to do was just go back and try something different.”
