The growing baby hardly made a bump under the simple fabric of her wedding dress. It was the obligatory yellow sash tied around her waist that told her story and her fall from grace.
The 15-year-old girl from a nice Catholic family and her 18-year-old handsome knight didn’t need the help of a shotgun to declare [...]

While perusing the news yesterday morning, I read about a woman who had set her 6-year-old on fire. I read about a mother who delivered a fatal punch to the head of her 7-month-old baby. I read about a mother who suffocated her newborn because he wouldn’t stop crying and I read about a mother [...]

Prompted by a conversation with a friend who was sharing some of her experiences when she worked with at-risk teens in a rural area of Georgia, I’ve realized more fully that our ability to live in denial is in many ways related to our individual sense of normal.
The hardest part of our work with these [...]

I’m really not quite sure what to think of recent conversations around our dinner table. My 5-year-old seems to be making plans that don’t include his parents…long term plans, and I’m starting to worry he’s met a hit man on the playground, or his older, adult siblings have been talking to him again…
Last Week…
Aaron: (looking [...]

I’ve spent considerable time over the last six months thinking about purpose. My purpose. Trying to define it.
My husband, being the retired corporate executive that he is, and whose mind is trained to create strategy, keeps prompting me to stop spending time in the how and to give myself up to the what…traveling without a [...]

I’m posting for the  Beautiful Like Me project, hosted by WickedStepMom, this is a bi-weekly post dedicated to raising awareness about the lack of self-esteem and poor body image in today’s youth. If you’d like to join in, please do. Simply leave a link to your post here or on the main project page.
For this [...]

“Do you think healthcare is a right?” I asked my husband while sitting with him at the dinner table.
He took the bait but not three minutes into the conversation he was already frustrated with my position and was about to end his opposition by ending the conversation.
“Listen,” I said. “I really need to have brain [...]

Since Aaron’s birth five years ago, I’ve had a plethora of experiences related to the mommy wars…the feud in which working moms and stay-at-home moms underhandedly engage. I’ve turned the other cheek as moms disparaged my choice to work and clucked their tongues. I’ve listened to women make comments, Why bother to have children if [...]

If you’re feeling the summer heat, I’ve got the perfect remedy…

Are you familiar with Violence UnSilenced? It’s a wonderful, amazing, grassroots effort started by Maggie at Okay, Fine, Dammit… to help give a voice to the survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.
The site was recently nominated for SocialLuxe Lounge’s Most Inspiring Blog. Winning means recognition at Blogher and can help bring even more voices, ears [...]