gratitude

The author with her dear friend. (Image: Stache)

Call Me Mary Poppins: In Praise Of Positivity  

Maybe all of those people who distanced themselves from emotion and frowned upon my "Mary Poppins" outlook had been right all along.

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Image courtesy of the author.

That Time I Found A Tumor On My Baby

The night I discovered that tumor on her back was essentially just like any other.

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How I Became Thankful For A Divorce I Didn't Want

Some people think divorce is the most horrible thing that could happen to a person.

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Taking that leap of faith has shown me that I am not only a survivor but a warrior.

6 Things I Learned About Myself In My First Year Post Divorce

After my divorce, I learned so much about myself and you will too.

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Christmas can be downright brutal if you're financially hard up already. (Image Credit: Thinkstock)

It's Christmas And You're Broke: How To Survive

A weekly trip to Walmart would end in tears — first theirs, then mine. Them pining in the toy aisle. Me saying no. Over and over. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to buy my kids whatever they wanted, it was that I couldn’t.

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The upside of some serious lows... (Image Credit: Unsplash)

Can I Be Thankful For My Mental Illness?

t interests me that I can immediately think of the gifts of anxiety, panic, and even my spurts of agoraphobia. Being tense in body and mind, living with fear that feels real even though I know intellectually it isn’t, experiencing the migraines, chest pains and choking sensations — these aren’t things that lend themselves to my happiness.
Yet the compulsion to stay at home, brought on by edginess and unease outside, keeps me productive. Anxiety makes me communicative, even if just through electronic means. The worry about judgment pushes me to write better, to edit more thoroughly, to answer the voice in my head saying “You’re not good enough” with a defiant “Then watch me improve.”

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Mark wasn’t religious, but he wore a St. Francis amulet around his neck, a gift from his father. Nights when he didn’t come home, I prayed to St. Francis, too.

Becoming Bride: St. Francis, Patron Saint Of Drunks

Mark prayed to Saint Francis, a patron saint of drunks and (according to Mark) lost causes. Mark wasn’t religious, but he wore a St. Francis amulet around his neck, a gift from his father. Nights when he didn’t come home, I prayed to St. Francis, too.

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J. Cole Pays It Forward (We Cry. A Lot.)

Grab the tissues and the headphones, kids. Rapper J.

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