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 […]
Check out my new vlog about mental health after cancer!
I’ve walked through those doors dozens of times but there was something about today that made me all nerves and apprehension. It wasn’t a fear of rejection but teetered more toward belonging too much – as if – if I entered the doors of my own volition – that I would have to stay. After […]
It’s the moment we all hope to have once in a while. I sat in the middle of a beige winter field on a canvas director’s chair. Closing my eyes and turning my face to the warmth of the sun, the January breeze wisps surrounded me. Most of the time, I try not to let […]
My mom says I sound like I’ve swallowed two frogs, and to my students I’ve told them I was punched in the throat during an underground cage fight – I won, of course. But really, the weather change and the end of first semester for my classes took my voice. I keep attempting to communicate […]
