My teen pregnancy and subsequent role as a birth mom shrouded me with deep, immovable shame. Behind the ideologies waved on poster boards at rallies and in front of clinics, and strangers shaming and condemning the choices women make, stands a woman or teenager in a scary situation doing the best she can while facing […]
A couple of weeks ago I got to hold two precious newborn babies in my arms. Baby Micah gazed up at me with his innocent eyes, swaddled burrito tight in his blanket. Holding him took me back 27 years. Back to the hospital where I gave birth to his mom and held her in my […]
Recently, while our minivan hugged the curves of the winding Pacific Coast Highway, I wondered to myself what would greet us beyond the curve of road that jetted out in front of the cliff. The curve bent sharply inward and hid what lay beyond it. To my right, out the passenger window are the jagged […]
When I was a little girl Saturdays were clean-the-house days. My mom would wrap a red bandana around her hair and get to cleaning. She’d get so in the zone that it was like the rest of the world around her just faded away. Music blaring, no dust particle was safe. Then I noticed Mom […]
From a very young age I remember walking sleepily into the kitchen where my grandmother (Nanny) and mom sat having their morning coffee. With sleep still in my eyes, my mouth tried hard to form words around the images my brain was alive and awake with. I’ve been a vivid dreamer since I can […]
