It’s been a long time since I’ve felt well, really well for more than maybe two weeks. It’s certainly been since before my second child was conceived, just about exactly six years ago. Since her birth in August 2010, and especially since the summer of 2011, I have felt fatigued and depressed a lot of…
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Writing To-Do List: Making it Public for #NaBloPoMo
Since the start of November means the start of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), I feel the need to make my Writing – and my writing support – To-Do list public: for accountability and to show the whole picture. I have come to understand that I can’t just say I will write every…
End of summer, with grief and relief
As summer 2015 draws to a close, I am filled alternately with grief and with relief. Now, it’s pretty typical for me to flip-flop from one extreme to another in my emotions in the space of about two minutes. I remember one fall day I took my children to Ticonderoga Farms by myself and thought…
Modeling moderation when mama abstains
As a woman whose health can’t support her drinking any alcohol, I feel pretty out of the mainstream with all the funny jokes out there about needing a drink. I can’t even tolerate decaf coffee anymore, so I feel similarly out of step when others talk about the day not starting without java. It’s not…
Circling back, or life as Spirograph
As the BlogU conference drew nearer, I began to feel more and more excited but less and less prepared. There was a huge attendee Facebook group I failed to figure out until about a week before. What rock had I been living under? It was filled with so much activity! So many people to follow!…
5 Things I wished I’d know before my c-section (and VBAC)
Today is the last day of Cesarean Awareness Month, something I would not have expected would apply to me when I first got pregnant a little more than 10 years ago. But it does. After my 2006 c-section, I went on to have a homebirth with my second child, thanks in no small part to…
Lukewarm on/in spring
Dear Spring, This is difficult to say, but I’m no longer sure that I love you. We’ve had some amazing times together, I know. And I have always loved your greeny-gold and that feeling of newness you bring with you. But lately things have just been too up and down. The temperature, for one. The…
Family legacy ambivalence
Welcome to the April 2015 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family History This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared stories, lore, and wisdom about family history. Please read to the end to find a list of…
Our days, these days
Welcome to the March 2015 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Day in the Life This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have given us a special glimpse into their everyday. *** Since I’m always wondering where the time…
Why clean air matters to my family
After I’d attended the summer Moms Clean Air Force play-ins and had learned more about the organization‘s important work, I was honored to be invited me to speak at the Virginia Mama Summit at the Virginia General Assembly building. At first, I thought that since my children don’t have full-on asthma and I don’t work as a…
Itemizing and strategizing at year’s end
As 2014 winds down, I’ve been feeling a little better physically but am still somewhat overwhelmed in general and in my head. It’s becoming clearer and clearer to me how physical health is related to emotional, spiritual and mental well-being. This post is my attempt to inventory all the destinations of my energy so I know…
Life after antidepressants
Antidepressants saved my life at least once and might have saved my brother’s if he’d sought help instead of taking his life. Saturday, November 22 is International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day. This is the story of why I am grateful I had medication and how and why I hope to avoid it for the…
Grounding in fall
This fall I have noticed the leaves without trying so hard and have immersed myself in a lot of interesting activities that seemed to land in my lap. I have been so many great talks and events, and I’ve wanted to write thoughtful and helpful recaps of all of them for my website, Mindful Healthy…
How to talk to depressed people
Memory assistance is one of the best things about blogging. I was looking everywhere for a piece I knew I’d started on what to say and not say to someone who is depressed. When I logged in to update the blog after a nearly season-long hiatus, there was the draft, from July 20, 2014. I’m…
Conjuring home: intention in renovation
Welcome to the September 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Home Tour This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have opened up their doors and given us a photo-rich glimpse into how they arrange their living spaces. *** It’s been two…
Activist, educator, mother: spin the dial
What words would you use to describe yourself? How do those words change when you become a parent? What do your choices look like with the glasses of parenthood on? This week I felt like some of my many identities came together outside the Federal Triangle Metro station at the Moms Clean Air Force-organized rally…
What I wish for my daughter on her fourth birthday
My daughter is about to turn four. Her grandparents are asking what they can get for her. The question has made me feel hollow and heavy at the same time. I don’t feel like I can give her the things I really, truly want her to have. She is a hilarious and fascinating…
To BlogHer, or not to BlogHer
I’d already lost count of which snow day it was when I bought a registration ticket for BlogHer ’14 in San Jose, California, the annual blogging conference’s 10th anniversary year. There had been so many days that the weather had forced me to scrap plans to work toward the launch of my new site or…
Good things coming (from the ground up)
I may have had to pay someone to help me plant my garden, but the good news is that it actually happened, and things are growing. Maybe a little late, but they’re growing. Sometimes you have to throw out “perfect” for “done.” That doesn’t mean I’m doing the greatest job weeding or tending things, but…
Failure to thrive in motherhood
The moment I realized I could no longer handle teaching high school, I was sitting in a Teaching for Change-organized class with Enid Lee, one of the authors of Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development and a huge force in the area of critical literacy, which was…