Pick people who will reflect your true self back to you. They are guides. They are a pain in the ass, but they are guides.
When the Truth Gets Real Truth-y
Prayer (or something like it)
The awe of a new place, that’s prayer. Wonder-drenched wanderings, prayer too. Shaking off fretfulness to focus on just this one particular, precious moment: prayer. Laughter that shakes loose something long forgotten, a lightness of being, a freedom; that is also prayer. Standing in the presence of art, anything that you decide is art (there... Continue Reading →
The Miracle of a Million Tiny Moments
I had an appointment at the oral surgeon on Monday. This is notable because I hate everything that has to do with dentistry. And when the conversation shifts to using lasers in my mouth for a “procedure,” well I suppose you can understand how that could make me a smidge anxious. So, like the good... Continue Reading →
I’m Mainly Here for the Cake
My birthday is coming up, which means I’m simply reeling with possibility. Not about the celebration. I used to care a lot what folks did to mark my birthday. Now I just care about cake of some sort. And my family being there, of course. With cake. (Is it even a birthday if there is... Continue Reading →
My Adulthood Involves a Lot of Uncertainty. (I feel misled.)
Adulthood is one long voyage into uncertainty. When I was a kid, I assumed adults had their shit together. Behind those big, translucent pink framed glasses, the moms of all my friends seemed to have a tidy sum of to-do lists that culminated in a well-oiled family machine. Mine certainly did. My family was conservative... Continue Reading →
Self-Love & Self-Care: thinking on the words of bell hooks
Using a working definition of love that tells us it is the action we take on behalf of our own or another’s spiritual growth provides us with a beginning blueprint for working on the issue of self-love. –bell hooks, All About Love People talk a lot about self-love and self-care. From a practical standpoint, though,... Continue Reading →
Working Title Gospel
I’ve been itching to write my own gospel. A little bastion of ideas and thoughts so deeply held that they’re woven into the fabric of my life. Kind of like The Gospel According to Shug Avery–something real and true. Something I’ve had to create and live into to dispel all the hurt and ache my... Continue Reading →
The Anti-Worry Squad
On Twitter, a mom insisted worry should be ingrained in the return-to-school process during COVID. As if I were letting kids down by not succumbing to a vortex of worry. Worry has never manifested anything good in my life. Never changed anything. Instead, worry blocks me from wise decision making. From exploring all the options,... Continue Reading →
A few years ago, in the middle of the most heated, long-simmering, agonizing public situation I’ve ever been party to, a woman lobbed this doozy at me: You aren’t God, you know. My initial response skewed heavy toward the snark (in my own head… or more accurately, much later in the shower—which is where I... Continue Reading →
Dreaming
One of the greatest joys of being sober is doing shit you never even dreamed of... I didn't have such a great imagination when I was drinking. Sure, I could sit on a barstool & tell you I was going to run a marathon the year I turned 30 (even though I'd never run more... Continue Reading →