Motherhood
Post-traumatic growth–the end of the pandemic tunnel?
I’ve been thinking about that phrase, “The light at the end of the tunnel.” At this stage of the pandemic, I can still see the light, but it feels like this damn tunnel keeps getting longer and longer.
Continue ReadingMom would have been proud.
Mom was one of the biggest supporters of my writing journey and my goal of publishing my memoir.
Continue ReadingGolden Moments: the silver lining of aging.
Early in the morning before my mom died, my dad coined the phrase “golden moments.’
Continue ReadingPersonal growth—before, during, and after.
As hard as After is to write, the final chapter makes it all worthwhile. My journey of personal growth was long and arduous, but I survived. As did my son.
Continue ReadingThirty-two years ago…
Thirty-two years ago today, when I became a mother at 7:32 PM, on Wednesday, August 13, 1986, I had no idea of the difficult road ahead. No parent-to-be knows for sure what to expect in their new role, of course, but there’s a continuum of “typical” and there’s off-the-child-development-charts “unpredictable.” If you’ve followed my story, you…
Continue ReadingReframing my reflection.
Telling the story about my son’s brain tumor is the easy part of writing my memoir. I first wrote most of the dramatic scenes over fifteen years ago, within a few years of his diagnosis at age 11. Had I not written them, I would still remember. The trauma created new neural pathways in my…
Continue ReadingThe happy ending.
My memoir, when it’s done, will be a tough read, until the very end. There’s a lot of pain in it, and I imagine some readers will wonder if they can make it through. When I was living the pain, I sometimes wondered if I would make it through, too. Note to future readers: The…
Continue ReadingIt's a big day and a big step!
Today, I’m happy to announce my first essay to appear in a Literary Publication–Mothers Always Write! “When a horrible diagnosis is a relief.” I submitted the essay in March, then it was accepted perhaps in May, (I’ve lost track of that exciting email), then I received notice on Monday that it would appear today. I’ve been…
Continue ReadingFinding hope in the chaos of life.
My memoir, which I’ve not finished writing, has been given an unwanted sequel. Not by Matt, my 31-year-old son who was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 11. By a close family member, who just received that same diagnosis. I can’t give more details yet, out of respect for this person’s privacy, but…
Continue ReadingGardener, writer, writer, gardener, not always in the same order.
I was a gardener long before I became a writer, and it’s still one of my passions. It’s why you haven’t heard much from me lately–when the nice weather beckons me to the garden, I go. Last year, I wrote about the deer that wreaked havoc on all my hard work (in the garden, not…
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