It was her 15th birthday. We drove out to Sonoma to spend the day, passing through vineyards, and the shadows of trees; Their light flickering, as if the whole earth shared a pulse. She had only asked to bring her boyfriend and his mom along. She...
Sometimes in life you live out a story you’re sure you will never be able to forget. For Christmas, all my husband, Justin, and son-in-law, Aaron, wanted were tattoo gift certificates. I thought those would be easy enough gifts, and, thankfully...
It feels like this cycle has become our way: She does well, she is smiling big, she talks freely about her day, but then the tendrils of anxiety start to edge out of the dark cracks, and try, once again, to ruin everything. Before long we are back...
Yes, it’s a new year, but it has been a worn-thin last couple of days. Keep going, keep doing, act like I can handle everything. So many emails from the school, jolting along in a covid test pick-up lane, hearing, “What’s the name of your student?”...
I cannot exactly say that I am surprised. One of my very first memories is of the time our pet racoon got out of his cage, and roamed free. I was probably only a toddler then, but have a very vivid memory of watching it grab a banana for itself and...
I had asked her to come to have someone to talk to that didn’t only want to talk about details of what their coins bought on their video game. My friend, Lisa, sat next to me in the recliner. I hadn’t even gotten myself dressed that day. She jumped...
I saw a meme the other day that said, “It’s almost time to spend three days in the kitchen so the kids can eat this:” It then showed a picture of a single dinner roll. I laughed, and passed it on, knowing it was true. It garnered many likes from all...
Maybe you, too, wash the same exact dishes you did two days before, Hang up the same towel, Sweep the same floor. Maybe you wonder sometimes if anyone sees you at all; Your presence like a ghost they pass through in the hall. Giving your days over...
It was only her second counseling session. I waited outside in the car, staring at the way the raindrops dotted the windows the same way I used to notice them as a kid; Watching the way multiple small droplets blend, and then one heavy drop forms...
Apparently, I’m not needed anymore. Just a lowly, used up mother, set aboard a flaming canoe, clutching dried flowers, and shoved gently out to sea. Don’t even bother telling me that I’m not. Just leave me. *Dramatic pushing away* All I have left is...