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

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. 

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