A Heartfelt Thank-You to My Bosses
on The Soup's 5th birthday
Earlier this spring, while the Indiana soil flexed its muscles and Midwesterners (humans?) everywhere inhaled a collective gasp of relief amid the existential dread, The Soup turned 5 years old.
Guys, she’s out of pre-school! She’s a big kid!
I remember sitting in my home office1 at the height of COVID and setting this up. IT IS STILL STUNNING TO ME THAT THIS HAPPENED. I have been an early adapter of *anything* exactly one time in my life - that time. For the first year of posting on Substack I wasn’t even sure how to talk about it because most people had no clue what “Substack” meant.
Now, we’re almost 200 posts deep. Almost 23,000 people receive my free posts and over 1,100 are paid subscribers.2 WHAT?!
Loads of you have been with me since the very beginning - back when the world felt so different and I believed in my guts that my Substack would be mostly about food. True story!
We still talk about food, because I spent an inordinate amount of my waking hours thinking about it. (And making it!) But we also value growth around here - all types. The Soup has grown into something more abundant and expansive. Sometimes, it’s more practical. Other times, there’s more poetry. And we always leave room in the bowl for doubt, grief, and complexity.
I recently updated our “About” page. In case you haven’t seen it:
The Soup is a weekly dispatch committed to helping us live meaningful, beautiful lives, even as we bear witness to the complexities and injustices around us. Abundance means we get it all.
The Soup is for you if:
You want to stay whole and healthy through life’s endless challenges.
You’re desperate for agency in a life where much is beyond our control.
You want to stay engaged and empathetic in a complicated, often-painful world.
You embrace complexity and believe in the power of community.
You want to love your life even when things aren’t perfect.
Way back when I thought each post was going to be about curry or strawberries or dinner menus, there was a tiny spark flickering in the back of my mind - when it comes to soup, almost anything goes.
It turns out “soup” is a fitting metaphor for life. (You know how much I love a metaphor!)
Each week, I send a dispatch from my corner of the planet/heart. I write about the weights of this world, and I write about the counterweights - the simple things that keep us soft, humble, and in the fight. I also share what I’m reading, what I love, and what my life feels like at the moment.
We’re not afraid to tell the truth about all of it.
This might be an unpopular opinion in the Substack/professional world, but I think of you as my bosses - the best, brightest, funniest, most empathetic, wittiest, kindest bosses ever. I do not take it lightly that you support my writing with your actual dollars. ($5 each month, to be exact.) Substack has gotten more crowded as the years have passed. We have to be intentional about who we support in this way, myself included. I want your dollars to feel well-spent, so I take seriously the joyful work of making your life better in some way.
I feel incredibly lucky to do this work. THANK YOU for making this a space I love with my whole heart. You will always be my first (internet) call. You will always be my favorites.
If you enjoy The Soup, help me celebrate this milestone birthday by spreading the word! It would mean so much to me if you would share a favorite post on social media or with a friend, whatever feels best. We have something really special here, and I love watching this community grow.
Of course, if you’re not a paid subscriber, I’d love to add you to my “Boss” roster! You’ll hear from me most weeks and you’ll get all of my special series (Night Watch (Advent), Easter Jeans, and Fat Tomato Summer3, to name a few.) You’ll also have full access to the entire archive. The Soup could be your summer reading plan!
(As always, if you’d like to receive all of The Soup but can’t financially swing it, I offer scholarships, no questions asked. Just reply to this email and we’ll get you taken care of!)
If I could, I would send you all one of those dazzling pickle bouquets I keep seeing around town. !!! Instead, I’ll send you this photo of my real life, taken last night from the corner of the sofa, with a very sick hubs cropped out. My house is a mess. Welcome in!
I thought it would be fun to close by including some of my most popular posts from the past. Think of this as the scrolling slide-show of a precious kiddo finding their way! You’ll see a wide range of topics in just this small sample. Politics has been a heavy hitter this past year as we all work to make sense of things. Faith is always on my mind, along with food and flowers. My most widely read post of all time was the one about why we left our church. (Forever brokenhearted, but mending, all the same.) I wrote the Taylor post at the library and went so far into the zone that I ended up dropping my biggest swear to date. (Sorry, mom!) Anyway, we’ve got RANGE. Here’s to so much more! (Including continued conversation about some IRL meet-ups for paid subs in 2026!)
3 Popular Paid Posts
(I unlocked them just for this birthday party!)
(What I would tell Taylor Swift about her boyfriend’s “competitive” rage)
3 Popular Free Posts
(On deconstructing. Or, cleaning up our faith in order to see just how alive it still is.)
(On my background in Federal politics + my definitive word on the Presidential race - for now)
If you have a favorite post or memory from The Soup (or things you’d love to see more of!) I am ALL EARS. Leave me a comment!
Until next week, pals! xo
Home office = sitting on my bed or occasionally my couch. Here at The Soup, we work with what we’ve got!
The Soup has been popping up on the Substack bestsellers list in the Faith category. I am forever committed to writing about my faith as authentically and honestly as possible.
I am PUMPED for Fat Tomato Summer 2025, launching soon!
Shannan! When I say you are my favorite read everywhere—Substack, Insta, non-fiction books—I mean it in my bones. ❤️ Thanks for continuing to show up every Friday. I have 144 unread emails but yours always gets read immediately. PS can’t wait for the meet-ups!
Most often I save the Soup email to read at some time over the weekend - when I have time and space to fully engage with your writing. It’s like a piece of really good dark chocolate I intentionally choose to savor. I’m so thankful to be a part of this!