Both/And…keeping it real

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

  • 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…

  • “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…

  • Even better than Disney?

    Even better than Disney?

    (a series on ways that for me, Disney, Jesus and therapy all fit together…) I took a deep, and I do mean, DEEP breath…the kind that I can feel all the way through my torso. The kind…that would make Mr. B, my choir teacher, so very proud. The plane was landing, I peered out the small…

  • Links

    When my mom picked up her computer to start writing this week’s blog I asked if I could write. I wanted to write on my mom’s blog to talk about my experience with LINKS. You all probably know me from my mom’s blog. I’m her youngest daughter.  I am in 7th grade and 12 years…

  • What is it that really moves you?

    For a recent movie night with my husband and kids, I chose E.T. My kids, somehow, had NEVER seen this classic all the way through. I am still a bit shocked by that fact, even though we have certainly remedied that error. But as I sat watching this movie that was fairly formative for me,…