Two years post-divorce I celebrated my first Christmas without my children. I awoke early that morning, but not to the sounds of excited whispers and scampering feet as I had for the twelve years prior.  I made my way to the kitchen, but not before passing our Christmas tree. It stood solemnly – unlit, without a gift nestled below

I’m a huge fan of Thanksgiving. Before my divorce we had all kinds of Thanksgiving traditions, one of which included putting on the goofiest Thanksgiving Day costumes and dashing downtown to participate in our city’s annual Turkey Trot. Afterward, we’d head home to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. I was always busy in the kitchen prepping

When my ex-husband and I first separated, I was angry. Like throw-everything-in-the-garbage angry.  After my ex had removed his things from the home, I spent the better part of three weeks clearing out my garage, screaming and crying as I sifted through box after box of nearly twenty years worth of memories. Old photos, letters, keepsakes, even articles of

When I was seven years old, I saw “The Little Mermaid” at our local movie theatre three times. Three times. I didn’t just love Ariel – I wanted to be Ariel.  My best friends and I would spend summers at the neighborhood pool, flipping our imaginary “tails” (because the real ones hadn’t been invented yet), each of us dreaming

I haven’t been on a date in a year. Well, one year, 3 months, and 2 days actually. I didn’t really set out to stop dating for a year; it just sort of happened. The last time I went on a date was in early March 2021. The date itself was really nice; I went to a nice restaurant

Overwhelm is most often not about whatever sets us off, but rather is connected to something deeper below the surface. Like the time I flipped out on my mom over broccoli. Every Sunday, my kids and I have dinner with my parents. We’ve been doing this for years. This tradition is awesome for a number of reasons, one of

I kind of feel like online dating kind of tempts us to “shop for a human.” Shopping for humans is weird. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised then that “trying them out” is even weirder. I’m not saying online dating is all bad or that it can’t work. But to make it work, you gotta be willing to work. 

Maybe you’ve heard of codependency in relationships, but did you know it can spill over into your parenting? See if any of these sound familiar: You often tolerate quite a lot of misbehavior, but then end up extremely frustrated with your children. You may also regularly find yourself angry or yelling at your children.

In the last year of my marriage, my then husband and I hand selected the fixtures and finishes of the semi-custom “forever” home we’d commissioned to be built. It was a farmhouse-style abode, nestled among towering box elder and redbud trees, with a trickling stream playfully lapping at the property line. It was the largest piece of property we’d

“No Contact” is a method for dealing with abuse in which the target stops interacting with the abuser entirely. The idea behind it is to cut off the abuser from the attention they receive from a target, as abusers intentionally manipulate the people in their lives to garner power and control over them. Abusers often do this by creating