Those Sliding Door Aspirations

In the late 90s, a movie came out starring Gwyneth Paltrow called Sliding Doors.  In the movie, two versions of the main character's life were played out, the point of diversion based on whether or not she was able to make it through the sliding doors of a departing train.  It was an interesting tale on the …

A Father’s Journey as Humbly Told by a Girl Child

I spent the early part of my years as every daughter should - being a complete Daddy's girl.  As a child, my dad represented strength, stability.  I remember when we moved into a new condominium complex on Redlands Blvd and California Street.  My mom was working night shift and had our family car, so Daddy …

What My Game Boy Taught Me

The idea of starting over again can be unnerving and downright exacerbating it. "You mean I gotta do this again??" For me, I think it is this way for a few reasons: 1. Starting over again carries an association with failure. I've done this before. I didn't succeed the first time. So now here we …

You’ve Been Here Before

Lived experiences serve as monuments to life conquered. So I am on an exercise program as part of a fitness challenge. It is a program I have done before, and it yielded great results. As I shared in a recent blog, I feel like I am back to square one on the motivation track, and, …

The Continual Work of Mindset Adjustment

I'm back. And let me clarify: by saying "I'm back", I am not saying I suddenly feel a push to do everything in health with perfection (my carb-loving, sweet tooth-having is far from doing anything with perfection).  When I say that "I'm back", I am referring to a mindset. A few years ago, I made …

How are You Dealing with COVID-19? Uncomfortable Lessons with Unmerited Worth

How are you managing this pandemic? It is hard to imagine such a question would become almost as common as "How is the weather?"  However in this day and time, these words have served almost as a cursory greeting.  And are response to it has been just about as cursory. Oh, it is crazy times.  …

The Quest for the Heart of the Modern Woman

There is something about men on horses that. . . gets to us.  During the holiday season, I went with my sister and brother-in-law to a sing-a-long showing of White Christmas.  One of the thematic threads to the story was Rosemary Clooney’s character telling Bing Crosby’s character about her, admittingly fanciful, ideals about meeting her …

A Word on Abuse

In 2014,  news broke out about football player, Ray Rice and an altercation he had with his fiancé then wife, Janay in an Atlantic City elevator.  In a video that was released, we witness Rice strike Janay with a punch to the face that knocked her out unconscious.  He is then seen dragging her body …

I Do Take Thee and Thy Little Family: Marriage to a Single Mom, an Interview

Society seems to make dating a single parent, especially a single mother, as appealing as going to get a root canal. Marrying one? Let's not go there. Society's feelings about single mothers actually considering dating? Words like "selfish, wrong priorities, ungrounded" get tossed around. This realization of how society feels became, of course, extremely loud …

Second Time Around: Finding Love Again, an Interview

Zora* is a friend that I have known about 20 some years now.  Her marriage to her first husband dissolved almost 13 years ago.  However, she was blessed to find love once again with Langston*, and they have now been married going on eight years. Confession: these past few years, I have gone to Zora …