Jack and I are trying to walk twice a day. His trainer says he needs two sixty-minute sessions to deal with his anxiety over living in a new city or a city at all. The vast expanse of the desert is all Jack has ever known, so he is learning there are other people, dogs,…
How lucky I am to have had something that makes saying goodbye so hard. – Winnie the Pooh After twelve years together, we put our cat to sleep before he withered away in pain he didn’t understand and we couldn’t heal. Clifford annoyed the crap out of me. He had too much hair and was…
Solitude is essential to who I am, but for many people, it is a tricky business. Quiet, the often companion of solitude, can scare those not familiar with the tick of a clock. I used to have a rush of a life. Music on, chatter, and little alone time. I suffered instead of thriving amid…
Our peach, plum, and apricot trees survived their second summer. The green of their leaves is battling it out with the encroaching brown, and the cutter moths have done some damage, but the trees have officially made it. They are growing, alive, and in a few weeks, they will thrive, insects and triple-digit temperatures at bay.…
Years ago, I found myself in a Walgreens parking lot. My kids were still little, so I’m sure I was picking up liquid Tylenol, or maybe I was shopping for cards and Oreos because everyone was finally asleep. It was a mundane night. I don’t remember why I was there. And yet, I will never…
Broken girls become warriors. That was the quote on Pinterest. I’ve seen it before. I don’t know who wrote it. I’m sure several incarnations have been written dozens of times but reading it this morning set me off. Why the hell do we keep doing this? It seems the space between complicated issue and bumper…
If I don’t focus, life can be a real pain in the ovaries. Recently, I have started reading about Stoicism. I’m finding meditation is a little too cozy-blanket unless I’m going to be a monk, which is still an option on my table, but in the meantime, I need to strike a balance between…
Seven birds and, as of this morning, six baby mice. That is the death toll this spring. I can not provide context for this loss because I don’t know how many baby birds were in all of the nests around our house, nor do I know how many mice families call our piece of land home.…
I have never understood the practice of a sparkly Band-aid after a shot. A shot is painful, big tear inducing and a Band-aid with Mickey Mouse or Sponge Bob seems like a chintzy consolation. When my children were little they asked the inevitable question as they hopped up on the exam table in room 4.…