Both/And…keeping it real

We can do hard things. Acknowledging both the good and hard in everyday life.

  • Leaves on a stream, Montana and taking deep breaths…

    (For my love). “Shhh….” My love wrapped his arms around me, my heart hammering and breath fighting to get down to my lungs. “Imagine a canoe, gliding through the water, no sound, other than the water of the river. Drops drip off the paddle, look around and just see everything with wonder….” After he’d described…

  • What do we assume?

    I think, like most of America, I am dreading the next few months ahead of the next presidential election. As a therapist and a living, breathing human living in the US, I have heard so many opinions, broken-hearts, hopes, concerns and torn up family systems because of the state of our democracy. *Here is my…

  • The Monkey in Michigan

    The Monkey in Michigan

    (a true story with a tiny bit of imagination…) 1957 I pulled over on Kenowa Ave to check my directions from the map in the glove box of my Studebaker Champion. My map, the one I use many times for my job as an ice cream delivery man, was a complete mess. One of the…

  • Perspective….

    (Disney part 4). June 21, 1996: I had barely turned 23, was enjoying life, post Hope College and still a huge Disney buff. I lived in the small ranch home I’d recently purchased that had been my grandpa’s, with a beloved roommate. She was strong, smart and a person with whom I felt known and…

  • Hey readers…

    Thanks for being so patient this last while…it’s been a bit busy at our house! The blog has been hiatus due to graduation festivities, etc… I am working on something new though, hoping to publish it this weekend, so keep a look out for that. Also some fun new happenings and opportunities for me to…

  • Ink…

    Ink…

    I have a multi-faceted personality, if I can be honest with you. I am all sorts of things: introverted and love when I get to interact with my closest circle or those I find a new connection with; both anxious about the how’s, where’s and what’s that accompany my disability and very comfortable in other…

  • “A real lockdown…”

    “Mama, we just had a real lockdown and we are in a shelter in place.” “I don’t know what is happening and I am scared.” My heart skipped as my dear friend sat across from me at her salon, filing my nails. Seeing her is a part of my Friday therapy, recharging on a day…

  • “Everyone falls down. Getting back up is how you learn to walk.” – Walt Disney

    (Disney/life series part 3) Can we talk for a few minutes about falling down? Maybe that question conjures a giggle, an image of slapstick comedy and humor. Maybe it makes you think of skydiving, bungee jumping or other forms of speeding toward the earth and falling. For others, the question may evoke more real life,…

  • These moments (my E, a boy named Enrique and Jesus).

    Oh my heart, these days of spending time with my beautiful 18 year old daughter this way, are changing so quickly. Last weekend, I knew I needed to wrap my head around planning for her graduation, celebrations, dates and all the necessary business that is bearing down on our family like an oncoming parade. I…

  • What Disney has taught me about traumatic loss…

    (Disney Part 2.) I have long considered the things I learn from Disney. Some things fun, others silly, still others poignant, which is I think is the biggest draw for most people who return again and again. I know myself well enough to to know as well, that I can find meaning in almost everything,…