The Season of Depression Has Sprung

I’ve been depressed. For months. Long months, wearing down my mind and my soul and my heart. Months where I continued to take my prescribed medication and see my therapist and do all of the things. Sometimes I show up to do public things, sometimes I do not. If you wonder where, I’ve been – […]

Anxiety Doesn’t Always Win

I am seated at a table, two magazines clutched in my hand. I put my bag next to my chair and carefully stack the magazines on the empty table. Deep breath. The aroma of coffee fills my senses. The space is pretty empty, so it would simple for me to approach the counter to order […]

The Anxious Life, Part Two

Since I work up Sunday morning and read about the mass murder of predemoninantly Latinx LGBTQ people in Orlando, I’ve been in a perpetual state of terror. I read two or three articles to get a sense of what was happening and as I cried, my heart started to thump ominously. I felt the familiar […]

The Anxious Life: Part One

This morning, I woke up to hear one of the cats crying and I immediately thought ” He’s dying” and leapt out of bed to race down the stairs. Of course, Boris was fine, just hungry and a little grumpy. Boris is 20 and tough as nails for a 5 lb scrappy cat whose only […]

A little update about asthma

It has been a tough month. I had a virus aka flu-like thing that wiped me out for days and landed me on a course of prednisone for my asthma. Not being able to breath sucks. Wheezing continuously sucks. Realizing your usual course of meds aren’t working sucks. While pred is a wonder drug for […]

Five Reasons I Am Proud of Myself This Week

Apple Pie

It has been a difficult month for me. Let’s just leave it at this – some very unpleasant ‘stuff’ from my childhood has been stirred up and I’ve been struggling to respond appropriately. At the same time, the crazy weather has my asthma in full assault mode so I’m having to take medication to breathe […]

Chronicles of Traveling

Hello from downtown Riverside, California. We arrived Saturday afternoon for a week-long sojourn in Southern California. Laura has a work related conference from Sun- Thurs and we tacked on a few days for some fun. I’ve never been to California before and I’ve never had a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean either, so this is […]

The Ritual of Our Morning Commute

Daily Blogging Prompt

Think about your day. Select one of your daily rituals and explain it to us: why do you do what you do? How did you come to adopt this ritual? What happens on days when you can’t perform it? There are so many rituals that I want to have, but not many that I consistently […]

This Is Spring Depression

Depression Anxiety

March has been a pretty good month in our household. The critters are all doing well in terms of their health and quality of life, something that we value with 3 very elderly animals. We’ve had some fun and exciting experiences socially. Both of our work lives have been fine. I heard that a grant […]

That One Time At The Dyke March

Pittsburgh Pride

So one year, I was asked to speak at the Dyke March. I was flattered, but I’ll say right here – I blew it. I was absolutely terrified to speak with this group of women and felt like I had nothing to say. I was super anxious and I did not prepare and it was […]