Eating My Words

aAll my life it seems I have had to eat my words, a says author Virginia Stiles. aWhen I began working in my hometown newspaper, I knew that job was only temporary until something better came along.a As it turned out, she was in the newspaper business for more than thirty-seven yearsaserving only two newspapers in that time. Her personal journey, which is told in Eating My Words, talks about confronting her alcohol addiction, dealing with rehabilitation after two heart attacks and a stroke, and then coming face-to-face with a bankruptcy. At the age of fifty-four, she completed training to go into parish ministry. She wanted to be able to afill ina for pastors who were on vacation or sabbatical. aWho me? Full-time parish ministry? Never!a And, once again, she wound up aeating her wordsa about that, serving as pastor to a church in Westside for the next eight years.