Writing, living, and healing in the PNW
He sat there staring at the page, my last student of the day. He was already twenty minutes late. I was just about to leave work, happy to go home and finish up essays I have to write for clients. This is my last month at my tutoring center where I help high school kids…
I am learning more and more that contrast is essential to the human experience, and that we get to decide how traumatized we allow ourselves to be by the contrasts we face every day. My miscarriage has mostly passed. I am dealing with the remnants of the loss and the shifting reality, but the worst…
I’m pregnant. And I’m having a miscarriage. I think. What Do You Mean “I Think?” A little over two weeks ago I looked at my calendar and thought, “whoa! It’s been a really long time since I’ve had a period.” Long cycles are normal for me, so I take them with a grain of salt….
I had a bad experience with someone. I don’t usually have bad experiences with people. I have an incredible amount of self confidence, and it is a general expectation of mine that people will treat me well. Honestly, they usually do. Since I made the shift a little over a year ago to embracing a…
“Is that good?” My daughter asks me for the fifth time in five minutes. “Celaya. Seriously. Stop asking me that. You don’t need my approval. If you like it, if you think it’s good, that’s all that matters.” Five minutes later… “Is that good?” Picture me smacking my forehead with my palm. My daughter is…
Oh there are so many different ways to say the same thing. Follow your heart. Be true to yourself. God’s will. The universe has your back. Trust your instincts. Look inward. And on and on and on. Of course, there are so many ways to say the same thing because it is an entirely true…
We went to the Oakland A’s game last night. My baby brother got us tickets, and we all went as a family. We were out til after 10PM. My kids didn’t get to sleep until 10:30. They slept in until 8:30 this morning. I am unschooling my oldest, and I will do the same with…
Shame. “No more namaste.” “You are glorifying your use of alcohol.” “Stop calling people your ‘tribe.’” “I can’t believe you let your kid walk on the edge of the bathtub with socks on.” Shame shame. It has always driven me crazy, really. People telling other people how to live their lives over the internet. It’s…
My mother’s sister died a few days ago. We knew it was coming. This time last year she was given just months to live. She stuck it out, smiling as always, for a whole year, only getting really bedridden and sick in the very end, and finally succumbing this last Monday. As it was unfolding…
I’ve been thinking about this post, “Beautifully Broken,” that I wrote originally four years ago, and how this fits into some writing goals I’ve got coming up. I finally went in to my old blogspot account and dug it up. This week’s post is my reflection on writing. For a long time writer, it can…