I Can Do Hard Things!

Hippy Dippy Egg

Hippy Dippy Egg

Have you ever met someone who seems to be good at everything they do? Pediatrician by day, chef in the evening, pro tennis player on the weekends and super model at every charity event you see her at. Yeah, that bitch! And you can’t even call her a bitch because she isn’t. She is a good friend, the Mom you call when your kid needs a place to hang out after school for a few hours and the neighbor who calls to tell you how sorry she is when she hears your cat died. I am not her, not even close. I come home from work most days and look in the refrigerator with confusion about how my husband can build an actual meal out of the contents, I fall down chasing my daughter playing a game of tag and I arrived an hour late to the last charity event I attended because I had spent the prior two hours rummaging through my closet reminding myself why it’s a good idea to try on dresses before I buy them. (more…)

Demons

I went to a funeral yesterday for a twenty four year old woman. I think everyone would agree this is far too young to die. It was not mentioned in her obituary or at the funeral how she died, only that she died suddenly. “Suddenly”, it’s the code word for in a tragic way that we don’t want to talk about. I get it. If my daughter died because her demons finally won, I don’t know if I could put into words what killed her. I would want her to be remembered for the good she brought to the world, not for how she left it. I don’t know what I would feel if I had to say good bye to my child because the demons won even after we all fought so hard. I don’t even want to think about that kind of pain. (more…)

Just call me Helen

hello my name isI was at a party and a woman whom I have known for a few years walked over with her husband and introduced me as “Kathy”. I corrected her (of course) and we both laughed at how bad we are with names, but for a minute my ego got a little inflamed. It jumped up with it’s big peacock feathers screaming “don’t you know who I am?” and then I remembered that as I was approaching her I was struggling to remember her name, which by all accounts should have been a piece of cake since she shares a name with my Grandmother! Oh ego, you little beast. Of course everyone should know my name. Meanwhile I have walked by the same woman daily for a year saying hello but never calling her by name because I may not have been listening when she told it to me, or I may have never asked her for it to begin with. (more…)

Family Vacation

The happiest place on Earth or the craziest place on Earth?

The happiest place on Earth or the craziest place on Earth?

I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to come to Florida in August, but here we are – me, the husband, spawn and old folks. My Mom’s idea of a good vacation is lounging by the pool. My husband’s idea of a good vacation is seeing everything the destination has to offer. My daughter’s idea of a good vacation is her doing exactly what she wants exactly when she wants which is typically the exact opposite thing of what we are trying to do. (more…)

My Life and Music

The chapters in my life are marked by what music I was listening to at the time. For instance, when I was a freshman at Michigan State University I listened to a lot of punk rock like Black Flag & Minor Threat. I used to have a crush on a DJ at the radio station so I called into his show a lot. Every time I called I asked him to play “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” by the Ramones. Subtle, I know. I would like to say my game got better as I got older, but it didn’t.My Life & Music - Frame 1. Comic strip art by John Logan III. (more…)

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