Every year, come late May, I get this… twitch. It’s an undeniable, deep-seated urge to purge. Suddenly, my closets look like they’re staging an intervention, the basement is giving me side-eye, and I’m eyeing that dusty box of “sentimental” (read: questionable) belongings with the cold calculation of a seasoned decluttering ninja. For years, I just…
And Hope Rose Like the Dawn….
CONTENT WARNING: RAPE, ABORTION I’m lying on a bed at a small, dingy clinic on the outskirts of town. I can’t open my eyes. I'm screaming in my head, but I don't make a sound. My hands are clenched around my forehead, squeezing until I’m white-knuckled and my head is pounding. I do not want…
Roses and Sunflowers
A few months ago, there was a fire in the restaurant next door to my apartment. That was the day I learned that, at the threat of my cat being in a burning building, this fat girl can, and will, run. I also learned what my most prized possession is. They say that whatever you…
Count the Stars
I'm laying in my bed staring at the stars. Not at the stars outside my window... The stars on my ceiling. Yes, I am a grown-ass, almost 40 year old woman, and I have glow in the dark stars pasted all over my ceiling. They remind me of my childhood. When I was a teenager,…
#MeToo
Me too. Age 11 in the Cincinnati Downtown Public Library. I was too scared to tell anyone because I was 11, and I believed that I’d done something wrong and dirty. Age 26 by a superior officer, at a work conference in Colorado. I was too scared to tell anyone because I was afraid to…
My dad is…I mean, was…..
I wish you could've met my dad. I find myself saying this phrase over and over throughout my life. As I grow older, meet new people, and experience new things, I wish my dad was here to experience them with me. I wonder what it would be like to take him to the Hamilton for…
When you’ve Come From Away
It’s that time of year again. The most difficult week of the year for me. The week when the very date on the calendar is enough to make me anxious. Smells set me into flashbacks. Loud noises make me cringe. Planes overhead make my heart skip a beat. It’s the week of 9/11. In my…
Moving To Maine
This piece was written for a Story Slam I'll be participating in this evening. If you can join us at Create-a-Palooza on High St. in Carlisle at 7 PM, you'll get to see me perform this live, along with other people sharing their stories about "bosses". I was 20 years old the first time I…
Remembering
I’m sitting here remembering something. It smells like 2006 in my office. New Jersey. Someone is wearing LoveSpell. That’s it. That’s what smells like 2006 New Jersey. I’m remembering… Remembering….. It’s amazing to me. One minute, I’m sitting at my desk, writing an email, and the next minute, I’m back in my basement office in…
Taking Stock of What I Have and What I Haven’t…
Taking stock of what I have and what I haven't What do I find? The things I got will keep me satisfied Checking up on what I have and what I haven't What do I find? A healthy balance on the credit side... It's that time of year when I find myself taking stock of…
VoyagersHeart 