I used to blog every. single. day.  There was barely a thought or event or special occasion that went undocumented in some form or another.
And then?  Well, I don’t know what.  Other shit became more important, I guess.  Or maybe I just got bored with it.  Or maybe I just started spewing all of my [...]

People who have gone through some form of therapy are probably the most annoying people in the world.
I imagine talking to them is like talking to someone who once watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.  “Heart surgery?  Oh, dude, I’ve totally seen that done.  I can do this!”  Except instead of trying to bypass your [...]

I don’t remember what day it was when my mother called. A week ago, I think. I don’t remember what I was doing at the time. Something in my kitchen, and I was smiling. It didn’t occur to me that it might be inappropriate to be laughing when I answered the [...]

I keep thinking about how I want to come here and tell you thank you.  I want to express how grateful I am for the kindness of loved ones and strangers and how all of it has reminded me that there is good in the world.
And then, before I get a chance to flex my [...]

You know why blogs are better than babies?
Because you can ignore them for days and days and weeks and weeks and they are still here.
Don’t try that shit with babies.  Seriously.
I plan to tell you all about our New Year’s Eve party – including the part where Jared showed up without a shirt on and [...]

We are, I think, as a people, a community of head shakers.
We like to stand around and shake our heads and cluck our tongues and admonish the world around us.
We are aghast at how bad the world is these days.  We are shocked by cruelty and deception and what we perceive to be evil.  We [...]

When we say we want to be “writers” when we grow up, we imagine ourselves as a slightly shorter version of Carrie Bradshaw.
Or, at least, I do.  I mean, the woman had an insane shoe collection and lived in my favorite city in the entire world.  What’s not to emulate?
If not Carrie Bradshaw, then maybe [...]

“It’s not about you.”
I fucking hate it when people say that.  Because, while it may be true and healthy, it’s usually said to let someone know that their feelings are stupid.
“It’s not about you… it’s about me.”
That seems to be the unspoken clarifier.  Like, how dare you question how I am treating you or how [...]

Do you know why there are so many mommy blogs?
Because it’s easy.
If you have kids, you can throw up pictures from pretty much any day of your life and be like “LOOK!  I POSTED!  SPECIAL MOMENTS WITH MY KIDS!”  and someone, somewhere, will be all “awwww, you have babies and they eat turkey.  So cute.”

And [...]

My family is having Thanksgiving dinner without me today.
My mom and my brothers, along with the rest of their families, will gather around a table and turkey, 1400 miles to the north of me in a small ranch house in Iowa.  They’ll laugh and they’ll eat and they’ll make fun of one another.  They’ll take [...]

I’m not perfect.
None of you are surprised to hear that, I know.  But my point is that not only am I not perfect, but I have no desire to appear perfect.  Not to you or anyone.
There’s too much pressure in perfection.  Besides, most people know it’s a lie, don’t they?  I know I have, at [...]

We wiped away our tears, signaling the end of our counseling session.
“I just want to say,” her voice was the exact same tone and volume that it always is, “that you guys make perfect sense.”
My eyes flew from my twiddling thumbs to his face.  His lips twitched as he tried to suppress a smile.  We [...]

I thought I had survived The Apocalypse.
I thought I had lived through the worst.
I was wrong.
Yesterday, in the early afternoon hours, I received an email that would forever change the course of my life.  It would, I think, change the very fabric of me.  Permanently.
I was standing up when I read it.  The words instantly [...]

When I was growing up, I wanted to be my Grammy.
Actually, when I was first growing up, I wanted to be my Nana.  As far as my preteen eyes could tell, Nana was rich with money and royal blood.  She was fashionable and commanding.  She knew things that no one else in the whole world [...]

I’m sitting on a fourth floor balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  I’m looking at the beach, listening to the waves, but I haven’t stepped foot on it yet.
I haven’t stepped foot much of anywhere this weekend.  It’s after 3:00 on Saturday afternoon and I’ve left my hotel room exactly once to steal coffee from the [...]