Parenting
His first-grade teacher sent us a message on the classroom app while I was working at the office. School was about to let out for the day, so my son was headed for his after-care program. The teacher let me know that he was having a “very very hard time”
Mental Health
Last weekend I spent most of my time in bed, or so it felt. I couldn’t muster the spirit to be a housekeeper, a cook, or a mom to either my pets or my child. Laundry was in smelly piles. The cat was constantly flicking fleas off himself and
Mental Health
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 There was no light-bulb moment when I realized that casual relationships were not for me. Some of those relationships lingered, and were there for me in moments of need when I’d broken up with yet another boyfriend. As I’ve written this series
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
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
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
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