Musings and Memoir
Recently I sat in the audience at a community college theater, a very nice one, and watched the red curtain ascend over the opening guitar riffs of Jesus Christ Superstar. The intro to that musical goes on for several minutes with no performers on stage, and no lyrics, but my
Mental Health
Part 1 | Part 2 During this writing I found out that the Internet Archive captured my OkCupid dating profile from 2009, right before I met Damien. Here’s a snippet of how I presented myself to the twentysomething men of Portland. My Self-Summary: I'm a fairly normal, down-to-earth
Travel
Day 1 - Departure (mood: cheerful) It’s a Friday and we’re not at work or school. Daddy and I have packed up for a two-night stay in Central Oregon, including some fun in the snow. Our son has never gotten to play in snow more than two inches
Mental Health
Part 1 I skated through my last two years of college after my first ex-boyfriend left for a job in Hawaii. I had a few good friends and a retail job, and was somehow making good grades in spite of being so depressed that I sometimes slept through classes. I
Musings and Memoir
A few nights ago, my son came down with a fever and was very sluggish. Two nights in a row he fell asleep on the couch without dinner, hours before he would normally wind down. His dad and I had trouble rousing him beyond getting him to raise his eyelids
Mental Health
In early 2017 I was crying on the floor of my boyfriend’s rented room, where he was living after I kicked him out. We were trying to reconcile, but I’d started to feel that familiar, roiling uncertainty about our relationship. It had me paralyzed, afraid, unsure what to
Parenting
\My family and I are sitting down together for dinner. I’ve cooked something decent and middle-of-the-road, like pork chops with mashed potatoes and carrots. My husband loads up his own plate while I cut my six-year-old’s pork chop into small pieces and give him a dollop of potatoes
Musings and Memoir
An Interlude
Musings and Memoir
I was 19 or 20, in college, when I showed enough competence to pass an introductory piano class. I was about to turn 40 when I got a keyboard to learn on at home, a beginner once again. In between, I forgot everything and ignored my inner artist while vaguely
Mental Health
Sometimes I’m a much meaner mom than I want to be, or even thought I could be. When my coping mechanisms are out of order and my son defies a request one too many times, or is just being generally impossible, I react in ways that I’d never
Musings and Memoir
Understatement of the year: It is rainy in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. In the throes of wet season, my husband and I sarcastically say to each other about once a week, “It really should rain more,” as we gaze upon the growing soggy patches in our yard. We also often
Parenting
Being a mom means holding it together. Being a woman means holding it together. I am usually good at holding it together. People have told me that I seem like a bastion of calm and a person who has it figured out. Probably because I did well in school (“gifted