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When the World Expects More Than You Can Give
The sun is up. The house is still. The clock ticks off the morning until it’s closer to lunchtime than to breakfast. I’m in bed, covers over my head, curled around my body pillow, my cat asleep against me. Not because I stayed up too late the night before or because it’s my one morning to sleep in or because I haven’t had a do-nothing day in weeks. I had one yesterday, the day before, and the day before that. My month has been packed solid with do-nothing days. I should be doing laundry, cleaning my bathroom, making a much needed grocery run, checking my daughter’s homework, calling about a…
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Black Hole Moments
When I got pregnant with my daughter, Maddy, a few of my other pregnant friends were choosing to give birth au natural. My thought—Why not? I’d had epidurals with my boys, but because I’d progressed quickly, I didn’t get them until well into labor. The pain early on hadn’t been that bad. My friends had done it. I could woman up. If you’ve had children, naturally or not, you’re laughing now. You may be laughing even if you haven’t given birth. And you should be. Fourteen years after the trauma of labor and delivery au natural, I can laugh too. Most of that day has faded into memories and stories…
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Twelve Tips When You’re Drowning
I’ve spent more time in the last eighteen months fighting to stay above water in a storm-tossed ocean than I have standing on solid ground. Some days show up rockier than others. There are mornings I see the waves coming the second I open my eyes and then there are times I’m taken completely by surprise. Oddly, my rough-water days aren’t always the ones that come with crisis or high drama. Here’s my theory. When I get a break and take a second to breathe, the adrenaline rush keeping me in the fight dips and I go under. I hate those days because they take me off guard. They steal…
