Tag: mental health
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Why My Memoir Has Mermaids: A Healing Told Slant
ft. Disclaimer A few years ago, I swapped New Year’s resolutions for Word-of-the-Year intentions. Thirty-five years of failed resolutions had taught me that goal-setting was more obstacle than path forward (and thank goodness for late-diagnosed ADHD, am I right?). At the start of 2023, I was barely three weeks public in my recovery and gearing…
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FICTION OF YOU
TW: grief, loss, illness It’s been seven years since I held your hand and watched you struggle for air for the last time. Over 2,500 days, more than half of which I’ve spent as a mother myself. At times, it’s been a lonely journey—this mothering without a mother—though I’m far from alone. My children have…
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DISCOMFORT OF WAITING
TW: grief, loss, illness It’s day 12 of a medley of viruses attacking my daughter’s immune system. She’s back asleep in my lap, stealing those rare, quiet moments she can take up space by herself. When little sister is still sleeping in the bassinet and “bubbah” is off to daycare alone. Again. Though he’s also…
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THE YEAR OF SILENCE
Around the time I entered middle school, my mother and her mother spent a year not speaking. Plenty of families experience these types of estrangements, which can make the holidays tense or even a time of grieving. What made my mother’s estrangement from her own mom odd was not the length itself but how long…
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WALK INTO THE STORY
A week ago, I was a writer. I woke early, kept the baby in her bassinet, and put on a cup of coffee. It was the third day of writing my recovery story, and after another few hours of primping and grooming, it felt dressed enough to meet another pair of eyes. Specifically, my husband’s.…