Today I stood in the full body mirror attached to my closet. I stared at my belly and my hips for full minutes in disbelief before huffing out a joke at my own expense to no one, Girl. You need to get it together. You looking like one of them ‘Before‘ pictures on Instagram! I…
Tag: Health
grief, community organizing, and why a clean garage can literally save the day
the fourth of july weekend of 2016 sent me through a soul searching roller coaster ride. i was more 700 miles from my home, driving with my parents and young son after having spent a weekend with my aunts and cousins in hot springs, arkansas, when i learned that 2 men more than 1,000 miles…
on holding space for single mothers at the end of their rope
“ms. o, get your boy! cause i’m three minutes off his ass!” she came huffing and puffing into my office not because she had just walked up three flights of stairs but because she had just chased her 15 year old from out of the bathroom and into his classroom. “i’m gon kill him! i swear…
a woman is a human, no matter her status or post or tweet or whatever
when you are born female you learn real early on that people are waaaaay too comfortable talking to you under your clothes. it starts with comments about how cute you are or how much they like your dress. but slowly the comments turn to weight and height and whether or not you’ve started your menses….
adhd and me: life with distractions
here’s the thing in my life i am consistently inconsistent. i will start a hobby and nearly half way through completion…i’ll just walk away. i’ll make a decision about going into another advance degree program. i’ll line up all the information. do thorough research on which program best fits what i need and then…i go…
on boxes, bad music, and the drive to be more
what if everything you’ve ever been taught about yourself were true? what if you really aren’t good enough? what if you really are too short? or too tall? or too skinny? or too loud? what if everything that has been told to you were the absolute undeniable irrefutable truth of who you are? who would…
His Mama Said, “You Don’t Have to Run. But You Do Have to Finish.”
Sprawled across a stranger’s lawn he yelled at me, “This was the worst idea you’ve ever had!” I would have slung him over my shoulders if my feet and back hadn’t been hurting and I didn’t have to go to the bathroom. There was also the fact that I pretty much agreed with everything he’d…
a tritina lullaby for mama
wide eyes take up doorways, begging me not to leave it’s not forever i chime but only goodnight near forgiveness, he is unconvinced but for his mother’s kiss this chair a portal and sleep’s sweet lingering kiss rest upon my eyes now panhandlers taking their leave a sleepless slumber my true reprieve on this goodnight…
if you thought i would take it standing still…you got another thing coming
there was a time when i was both sad and broken. a time when my heart hurt so much that it actually felt like it was an entity moving outside my body. there was a time in my life when each day that i woke up i literally would count the seconds it took for…
grief, loss, and walking it out
A man who looked just like my grandfather walked into the bakery the other day. When I saw him my heart sank and I had a difficult time catching my breath. I wanted to run up to him, give him a hug, grab an apple streusel to share so that we could sit and chat….
fearfree living 