Pain

9 years ago I participated in a year-end blog meme for the first time called Rewind 2011, with fun and interesting questions designed to get writers and readers to reflect on our lives in 2011. I did so again the following year, with my Rewind 2012. Ever since I did this writing exercise those two […]

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Today I turned 45. Since entering my forties in 2015, I’d hoped, as well as worked to try to make it possible, for someone else to be #45 (making her our first female President), when I turned 45. What has transpired since that didn’t come to pass has been surreal and heartbreaking for me and […]

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I intended to start this with a line from a song that I love, called Jack & Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp. It’s about holding on to “16 as long as you can, (because) changes come around real soon (that) make us women and men.” I was going to write about how magical this time […]

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I came across this edited version of a page from a children’s story yesterday (via Parenting Works). I love the idea that we can allow ourselves to feel more than one emotion at the same time. It’s okay to cry. We can feel sad and brave. Those two emotions (as well as any others) are […]

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I wrote and shared another version of this post one year ago today. At some point since then, I found my notes from a session with an old therapist (who moved out of state a few years ago). I discovered that processing “missed potential,” and not “missed opportunity,” were the actual words she used to […]

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Repeat after me, “It’s not my fault.” But, I get it. When someone we care about dies by suicide, it’s natural to wonder. Every time I’ve lost a loved one to suicide, including this week, I find myself going there. What if I’d called or texted them that day (or closer to when it happened) […]

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