My Trauma. My Triggers. My Children
Trigger:Something that causes someone to feel upset and frightened because they are made to remember something harmful that has happened in the past: A trigger is something or someone that sets off a flashback, transporting the person back to the traumatic event. Because of the title of this blog, I must first express that I […]
Survivor Talk: Disrupting Cycles of Despair
This may not be an appropriate New Year’s blog for some, but for others, like myself, despair is felt most intensely in contrast to the hype, consumerism, and emotional demands of the holiday season. But, regardless of the season, disrupting cycles of despair is an important topic. Is it possible to live and never linger […]
Sequelae
Sequelae[1] It was the last Wednesday in June, and my sons were visiting – Joshua, a recent high school graduate who was anxiously dreaming about his future; and Richard, a creative soul stomping about the planet trying to find his footing in an often inhospitable world. We spent the day together. We all grabbed coffee, […]
Follow the Crumbs…
I like my home very neat. It’s a habit, a way of being in my personal space that brings me joy. For whatever reason, clean, uncluttered spaces are calming for me and offer a sense of orderliness in an otherwise chaotic world. To ensure my home remains clean and uncluttered, I have my day-to-day routines, […]
The Bouquet
I didn’t grow up in an intergenerational family, never ran to embrace a grandmother or grandfather. There were no holiday dinners or birthday parties, no summers with great uncles or aunts. I didn’t meet my paternal grandmother until I was eighteen, and by then my grandfather was deceased. I didn’t meet my maternal grandparents until […]
Mama…
November 23, 2019, was the most difficult day of my life. My mother, Sandra, passed away. To say I was devastated would be an understatement. My mother had been my best friend. We talked every day. Monday through Saturday we facetimed at 6:30 in the morning; on Sunday I would facetime with her after church. […]
The Emotional Violence of Unhealthy Expectations
I had just gotten home from a seven day working vacation in Colorado. Although the trip was amazing, I was excited to get home. With my son staying in Colorado for a few additional weeks it was going to be the first time in sixteen months that I would have my home to myself. But […]
Why Offer Him My Body? A Sex-Worker Recovery Piece…
Many years ago, maybe twenty-seven years ago, I worked for a man named Glen, here in Fort Worth, Texas. Glen was a good man, a nice man, very professional in the work place, and he had given a woman like me, with a sordid past, the opportunity to work. The office was a hodge-podge of […]
Georgia on My Mind…
After enduring the Texas blizzard of 2021, I was ready for the warm temps that crept in during the following weeks. One morning, after having showered, I realized my feet were in need of some care, and my toe nail polish was from fall of 2020. Giggling, I thought to myself, “today would be a […]
