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Don’t.Fall.Apart… Ever.
What is the first rule when you’re hiking in the wilderness and you come around a corner…and find yourself looking into the eyes of a predator? Okay. I mean, a four legged predator – not a two legged one. You hold your ground. You look confident. You speak up. You stay calm. Make yourself big.…
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Leaving the Liar
It’s late. It’s SO late. I have to be awake and smiling and making breakfasts and lunches in less than 7 hours from now. And yet, my mind is full and brimming with outrage, frustration, and anger. Once again, I find myself in the position of being forced to “prove” the truth. How many hours…
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The perfect victim…
As I navigate our legal system, seeking safety and distance from that person who harmed me I am continuously reminded all that I’m not – I’m “not” the “perfect” victim. I don’t think anyone ever could be. Yesterday, again, my ex flaunted the terms of his release conditions that stipulate he isn’t to be where…
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All the ways I fail my son…
How to talk about autism without being another trite, nicey nice article about how people are wired differently? Do you remember Middle School? Junior High? Grades 7 to 10? Ages 12-16ish? Brutal years. Horrific. For those of us who were never normal, those years are the stuff of hell. I remember a girl; a normal,…
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Cries in the darkness….
How to write about nightmares? I have always been a very vivid dreamer. My dreams as a child were so real I struggled differentiating them from reality. As an adult, they’re still as vivid, but I’ve learned to mentally flag them … I suppose with the memory version of ‘italics.’ Dreams to me are *almost*…
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Undeserving
Music is so powerful; a gorgeous, rich, wonderful tool that first opens your mind up, gently pries open doors, and then can rip out your heart and you find yourself sobbing on an otherwise innocuous day. Or maybe that’s just me. This weekend was full beyond belief; working to take my old creaky home to…
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Trees. Our soul friends…
I listen to CBC Radio a lot; there’s often discussion about reconciliation, interviews with first nations individuals who share their stories about how they experienced Residential Schools, Reservations, Childhood, Adulthood, White People, and more. They share their real. At work, we are participating in some sensitive learning around all of this. I’m a white cis…
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Marring your very perfect self
Let’s talk about self harm. I’m not an expert; I’m not a psychologist; I have never offered peer support; and have never harmed myself in any of the ways that are talked about in books or popular culture. So – that’s a lot of words to say I’m absolutely unqualified to write about other people’s…
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Where are all the brave, beautiful women…. So that I can join in?
When I was little my mom made a lot of my clothes. And when we bought my clothes, I had one major criteria… That when I spin around the skirt would fly up, like a top… like a ballerina. While I know now that little girl and this adult are autistic and the spinning and…
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Soul.Food.
The moment a child is born into this world, they gasp for air. Within moments of turning from blue to red, flush with oxygen, they gasp for nourishment. Skin. A breast. A bottle. We are blessed here in the West that there is patience given, and knowledge that there is time; a child can wait…