There were many rules in my family but one of the most important was don’t get pregnant before you get married. My sisters and I were to present the perfect picture at all times. Don’t shame the family. I may have been in New Mexico, 1400 miles from my parents in Michigan, but those rules were like blood in my veins. I was a twenty year old mess, drinking heavily, trying to get through college, waitressing and scrambling for money for rent, food, health care, tuition and book

My mother died at the end of 2019 and I wrote this piece but never published it. This morning, I thought about the people who may be scared to say they are happy about someone passing. Scared to acknowledge the relief they feel. This is for them. My mom died and I am happy. I could justify this statement by telling you facts such as this: She didn’t want to live anymore. She missed my dad. She wanted to go. She wasn’t in pain at the end and she died in her sleep. I could tell

I see them in my night dreams, two sisters of mine. They are interwoven through my dream stories and sometimes their children are there. Often there are more children than I knew about and the dream story becomes about that. When I awaken, if I have time, I think about the dream, and wonder if the children represent all the events and tidbits I don’t know about in their lives anymore. It’s odd. I never thought, when I was younger, that I would be a person who doesn’t speak to

Healthy, happy families, and they do exist, are not really worrying about the upcoming Holidays except to plan food, gifts and events. Although there may be some stress concerning budgeting, travel arrangements or amounts of this or that for meals, overall, they are anticipating the holidays with delight. They want to see relatives, and they look forward to catching up, laughing, visiting and exchanging ideas. Unhealthy families do not anticipate holidays with pleasure. Unhea

The most important day of my life was the day I broke my neck. The world changed. Every decision I made after that day was different than it would have been, had it not happened. You grow up hearing, “Don’t do that—you’ll break your neck!” You hear about people diving into pools, and the horror of being a quadriplegic. And here I was. I had broken my neck. I was alive and I wasn’t paralyzed. How had I gotten to this point in my life? How had I gotten to this emergency room, w