Eating cooked vegetables at three years old. Me: It looks gross! I hate the smell. Mom: Just try it. Me: WAAAH! Mom: One bite. You only have to try one bite. Elise takes a bite and, years later, learns that she likes vegetables. Learning to dive backwards in high school. Me: Oh my gosh. I'm so scared I think I'm going to be sick. Instructor:…
A friend of mine posted on Twitter that some people are so excited to pursue creativity that they forget to also make sure they have the skills and training to support it. Hmmm. While I think it foolish to chase a notion that you have no idea what you’ll do with once you catch it, I also think that the biggest challenge is often just valuing…
I recently heard a lecture on interior design and how it links to our personalities as well as our mental health. Hrmmm, I can't say my gut reaction was particularly positive. “I’m in a group of new moms, listening to someone tell me that I need to make my house a lovely, aesthetic piece of art so that I can feel more at peace when I'm…
I love to make everyone happy. Now I reread that sentence and mentally insert “which is impossible” to the end of it. That’s the only way the sentence can be consistently true. I strive for the impossible. I love my family and friends passionately. I am an active member of my communities. And yet it’s delusional to tell myself that I can satisfy every social expectation…
Safety. Somewhere to fall back on if everything else is blown to pieces. The bunker where we re-charge our life force, restock ammunition, and recalibrate strategy. Checkpoints. Video games place these at intervals throughout each level. As long as we can drag our butts to a checkpoint, we can save our progress. That way, if the alien invaders or the radioactive zombies attack, maim, and murder…
It’s a good day to live in Seattle. This is not breaking news, but the Seattle Seahawks have made their mark as Super Bowl champions and my hometown has erupted in frenzied ecstatic cheering. A few weeks ago, the news of a victory parade downtown made me shudder—large crowds=stampede, death and mayhem in my mind. Perhaps I was raised by protective parents (okay, fine, I was…
Fairy tales are more than stories. In the best of them, we see ourselves in them and incorporate their truths and magic. I was seven years old when I first saw Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in theaters. To this day, the twirling leaf in the wolf-haunted forest still makes me tingle. My mother encouraged her children to practice and grow comfortable with theater and performing…
This week, I'm reviving the Friday Five where I briefly detail five things I've learned about life this week. 1. We learn to laugh in stages. I didn't know this was part of human development, but we actually don't laugh all at once! Right now, when I tickle George's belly, he gives off a couple grunts. He's not at the "peals of laughter" stage. It's hilarious…
December. My baby’s four month anniversary. Christmas rush. Maternal exhaustion. Guilt has no place here. It’s really the last thing I need. Outside my home, the frost sheaths the brave blades of grass that raise their heads. Inside my home, Christmas lights offer no warmth as I weep and share two huge, aching desires in my heart: to be a mother to my beautiful son and…
I surface. I blink in the watery, clear light of autumn. I cradle a small warm bundle of life in my arms and hear him cry for attention, love, and food. The reason for my long absence from this blog was the birth of my son, George Liam Stephens. He arrived early on August 1st, and my life has turned head over heels: In love. In…