I am two different people. I'm sweet-mom, doing the mothering duties, roles, and wearing 12 hats with a smile on my face. I'm just humming along beautifully like a productive little dwarf whistling while I work. I'm in love with my husband, kids, dog and cat, and life in general. I'm nice. Nice mom just doing the nice mundane stuff. And there's the other me. I'm grumpy-mom who is so Continue Reading
Why Mama Got Herself a Tattoo
It sounds like a country song. Of a crazy-exhausted mom in the middle-of-her-life-crisis needing to rebel and do something wild. Yes. I totally get that. But that is not my story today. I never thought I would get one. I never wanted one. Until now. Several reasons drew me to this place of wanting a tattoo. Actually needing a tattoo. Now. Last summer I had an “AHA moment” on an Continue Reading
The Burn
Inhaler of newborn smells I’m going to burn up this year. My favorite Equinox instructor (and my friend), Rebecca, always tells us, when we are dying in her hard-core fitness classes, that the burn means that change is happening in our bodies. We want that burn. We need that burn. Even if we are screaming and whining like little girls on the inside. She always reminds us we can do it and Continue Reading
Cigarette Girl
It was summer. 1979. I just finished 3rdgrade with a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Finefield. I was nine. I wore the Rainbow Shirt. You know that shirt that had the rainbow splashed from left arm, across the chest and onto the right arm? Super groovy. I was a child. And I smoked all summer long. (You can gasp now.) My mom was a smoker. She had been smoking for decades. She always had a carton Continue Reading
Tales from the Toilet
I am literally sitting in my bathroom. And yes, I do keep little notebooks EVERYWHERE for when “aha-writing-moments” appear. Which is often, but I don’t always stop long enough to jot it all down. But, I digress. I am in here not due to tummy catastrophe but because a tantruming child is outside the door. He or she (I won’t give it away) is pounding on the door and apparently did not read Continue Reading
A Raw and Honest Love Letter
Dear Sweet Mama, You have been given an incredible, amazing, and heartbreaking gift. You have been given a child with “special needs.” The needs could range from severe allergies to severe handicaps and/or anything in between. Not that there is a spectrum and your story is worse than another’s mom’s story. Or her story is worse than your story. You just each have a story. And a journey that Continue Reading