My son’s move into his own place started a chain reaction of cleaning, sorting, organizing, trashing, and donating. I started by going up into the attic each day I was off and bringing down three or four plastic tubs. I’d clean the tubs off (yes, a little OCD over here), go through them, and sort everything out: things for my son to go through, items to donate, and things to trash. It took weeks, many trips to Goodwill, and even a trip to the dump. Oh, and a lot of work. The end of the cleaning and organizing marked the beginning of the paint fiasco. I won’t bore you with…

My mom died when I was eleven, and from then on, holidays were different. To be honest, they sucked; but the worst holiday of all was Mother’s Day. For me, it hadn’t turned into ‘just another day’; instead, it was a sad day. It was a day to watch everyone else celebrate something that I was no longer eligible to participate in.   At the time, my situation was rare. I didn’t know of one other kid who had lost a parent, and I can’t count how many times I’d get invited somewhere with, “Call and ask your mom if you can come.” Friends who knew I had no mom…

If there’s one thing an author (especially a debut author) needs to know, it’s that not everyone will like your work; in fact, some people may hate it. Sorry, but that’s just the truth. When you take a leap of faith and put your work out for the world, you must do so understanding that you are not only inviting praise but also criticism, and if you don’t have thick skin, you’ll either get some really quickly, or you’ll be a hot mess. If your publishing journey ends up being anything like mine, here’s what you have to look forward to: You finish your book. Ah, the masterpiece. You feel…

Regardless of how old you are, meeting someone’s parents for the first time is intimidating. It always has been for me, anyway. Throughout the years, some people’s parents have loved me, some have been neutral, and others hated me. There have been two unforgettable instances when someone’s parents have disliked me right off the bat without knowing me at all, and this is about one of them. I was twenty-six, and I was dating a guy. I had met his mother (she was a lovely woman) and his grandparents (her parents), who were also wonderful people. His father was a different story. Upon finding out that I had a child,…

How is it almost Christmas again?  Where did 2019 go?  If you know the answer to that question, kindly share it with me. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and it was a wonderful day. I spent the day with my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces. As always, the food was out of this world (my sister-in-law is a fabulous cook), and so was the company. I sometimes see memes on social media about how stressful it can be when families get together during the holidays; the memes are usually funny, and they make me chuckle, but I imagine that’s because my family doesn’t stress me out—in fact, they kind of have the opposite…

Jackson Brown said, “Don’t burn bridges. You’ll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.” Don Henley said, “Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge.” I say, “If you must burn a bridge, don’t do it on a windy day, and be sure to first consult your locality’s fire-burning ordinance regulations.” Seriously, though … To burn or not to burn; that is the question. I believe that Mr. Brown and Mr. Henley were both right when they said what they had to say about burning bridges; I think a person should choose what advice to follow on a case-by-case basis.  Well, sort of…