I see you throwing loads of piled laundry into the washer – a hopeless endeavor half asleep at two seconds to midnight – the only time you have to do anything dust collects on face creams made to recede wrinkles of exhaustion dishes have piled high but your hands are as overworked as your mind and instead – […]
I grew up in a military family as the eldest of three. While others were playing with Barbies and ribbons, my brothers and I used Daddy’s camcorder, sheets, and plastic lightsabers to make our own version of Star Wars – which is highly embarrassing and the evidence is sitting dormant on a VHS somewhere. In my […]
Somedays, I feel like the ringmaster standing center stage and directing all the monkeys and tigers with a scarlet baton. I wave the directions towards hoops and stages, then bow when the show is over without a hitch as the crowd cheers for an encore. Then there are days like Friday, when I am not […]
I regretted getting the wrong cart. It squeaked and stuttered on the waxy floors of the grocery store. Shiloh jerked the wheel of the plastic car attached to the front of the cart, speeding his way to an imaginary finish line. “Koom Koom!” he cried, announcing to the other shoppers that he was speeding down […]
Like many Virginians this weekend, I got home on Friday to find several yellow-eyed dandelions eyeballing me from the front lawn of our townhome. The day before I spent near an hour wearing a pair of red palmed gloves strangling those yellow weeds and pulling them out of the grass and the flower bed where crimson […]
As a writer and mother who can no longer have any more, it is my deep grieving responsibility to tell stories. Since the moment I saw the double lines on a pregnancy stick, I’ve encountered incredible women who have pressed on through heartbreaking circumstances. I am every, and all, and none of these women. This is a tribute to […]
A few days ago when I was checking my email, a name which is always attached to both my surgery record, diagnosis, and chemo regimen was in the inbox, Dr. Stephanie Wethington. Though I’ve had countless doctors and nurses treat me, it all began with her saving my life during surgery and separating my body […]
I went to the Emergency Room yesterday. I started having throbbing pain under my ribs while I was at work and after all that has happened, I’m acutely aware of every feeling in my body – or in some places – the lack thereof. After arriving home and putting Shiloh down for a nap to […]
Today – I showered by myself without a talc colored plastic chair in the tub. I chose fitting clothes without regard to my collar making room for a port access. I went to work and taught all of my assigned classes – 1st pd English 11, 5th pd English 11, and 7th pd English 12. […]
He plopped on the bed jerking me awake and continued gagging. A smidgen of irritation welled up in me because I thought my husband stayed up too late cramming for another certification exam and became nauseous- but then I smelled it. The skunk’s sprays seeped into our house from the space between our town home’s […]
Ovarian Cancer is Nothing 