I expected to feel some mild version of that Chevy Chase scene in Vacation. I mean not entirely pre-jaded, but prepared to smile, nod and check her off my travel list. The Grand Canyon, who hasn’t gone, who hasn’t dragged her family to the edge while holding their child’s hand so she doesn’t plunge to […]
Category: Inspiration – Personal Growth
New Year Resolutions? Go Small. Three Things to Add to 2024.
Years ago I swore off making one single day the starting line for when to begin a new habit, or drop an old one. I figure any day is fine. But as the new year approached I still thought about what I wanted to change. How I wanted to change. For me, it’s an endless […]
Three things to make your holiday FEEL better
Holidays make lot of us giddy. The lights, decorations and excited kids drunk on all the magic. I love this time of year. My daughter is grown but I still run to my front porch and wave to Santa when he comes riding into our neighborhood, sirens flaring (now in a pickup truck vs fire […]
Broken crosses: Two local religious leaders who broke my heart
The reverend asked us to call him Bryan, but some people called him “Rev.” He was a regular visiting minister at my lay led Unitarian Universalist church. Wildly popular, burly Santa-type, warm and calming. When Bryan spoke, I made a point of getting my lazy-butt to church. Clergy always made me a little uncomfortable. […]
10 things to tell yourself when you’re going through a hard time.
From Tiny Buddha (I love this site). Every point hit home for me. But oddly enough, number two stood out because at first glance, it sounded kind of selfish. You have the right to feel how you feel even if other people have it worse. Your pain is valid regardless of what anyone else is […]
My interview on Mother Plus Podcast
Ambivalence and motherhood. Why it’s natural to love your kid, but hate some things about motherhood. It’s fine. Really.
I love, I hate. Peace after accepting ambivalence.
All mothers know this. That the love we have for our child is so intense and all-consuming that it’s spectacular and terrifying in its power. Yet it’s rare we admit that what motherhood gives us, so too can she take away… Depression… A few weeks after my daughter was born I was hit with severe postpartum […]
Condolences that hurt
I just listened to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast where he interviewed Nicole Byer (both are comedians, actors, podcasters). Marc asked Nicole when her parents passed away. Both were in their mid-50’s. Like anyone who loses parents too young, Nicole had a hard time. And like most well-intended people who console the bereaved, the condolences came pouring […]
What my sociopath boss taught me at 22
When I was 22, a year after working my first after-college job as a market research analyst, I moved to live with my serious boyfriend. For six months I scanned the paper looking for jobs in marketing or marketing research. Eventually I found a listing for a “marketing assistant” to sell seasonal plants out of […]
“Bed alarm” – a poem in my father’s voice
My father straddled self-awareness, grasping for the last of his free will, yet obedient.