At 10:00 pm on November 26th, my dad called to tell me my sister had passed. I sat up until 2 in the morning watching the tv show Friends and crying. My whole life, I’ve been the oldest of five, and she was my youngest sister. I don’t know how to be the oldest of ...
This year, I didn’t even see it coming. The anniversary of the day I closed my little bakery. I closed it not because I didn’t love it, not because I didn’t love baking, not because I didn’t love my cute little part of Nashville that housed my bakery, but because arthritis was stealing my thumbs. ...
This week, my husband left the company where he was employed for almost 10 years. The same company I currently work for, although in a different division, more or less. It is always hard for me to explain my job, and even more complicated to explain my husband’s job. It is always easier to say ...
Make mistakes, don’t be afraid, and try everything. This was, by far, the best advice I have ever been given. Frank Prisinzano, a chef in NYC and Italy, (who seemingly answers every Instagram message anyone sends him, and I am sure we are best of friends), told me to make mistakes, don’t be afraid, ...
When I was in culinary school, I asked one of my new friends, who happened to be a black man, why no one would talk to me or sit by me. My class was full of 20 and 30-something people, mostly military people starting a new career. He just laughed at me and said, “They ...
In 1987, I met a boy. He was different than any other boy I had ever met in my young life. I was 20, going on 21, and already engaged to another boy. The boy who was to be my husband was what I was used to; he lived his life inside the box and ...
As I sat at my desk, I was looking at the pile of emails in my inbox and the pile of contracts sitting there that I needed to process, I realized waking up at 3:00 am to see the Lunar eclipse did zero for my productivity this Friday morning. It did wonders for my mental ...
Today, I started my day with bloodwork, and when I sat down in the extremely large chair, I looked to my right, and there was a considerable crucifix hanging on the wall. It seemed out of place. I was pretty sure this wasn’t a catholic office, yet it looked just like the crucifix in ...
I’m forced to slow down as I lay in bed at 9:30 on a Friday morning on my side to let the ear drops soak into my ear. Forced to slow down from the holiday planning. Forced to burrow deeper into my blankets to avoid the 28-degree weather outside. Forced to think about the end ...
In the 90s, when my chickens were little and I was trying to hold it all together, I would do this little “exercise” with them called Stress Screaming. We would pile in my car, just the three of us, and I would start to drive down the road. Once I was sufficiently far away from ...
These days, Fall is ushered in by Starbucks instead of the actual Autumnal Equinox, and it is always a month too soon. This year, the Autumnal Equinox is on September 22nd. Still, Starbucks has already rolled out Pumpkin Spice everything, Dunkin Donuts also jumped on the early train of Pumpkin Spice, and I’m sure if ...
I walked out of my hotel room and into the August air. It was less muggy, and the air seemed cooler than it had been in a long time. I just stood there, letting the sun shine down on my face, and I took a deep breath. I was unceremoniously shaken out of my moment ...
As I sat at my desk staring at that blinking cursor, it screamed, “You’ve got nothing; why do you always put these grand ideas into the Universe? You know you never follow through.” That’s a lot to assume a little computer cursor would be screaming at the average normal person, but perhaps I’m not normal. ...
It’s me, Hi! I know it’s been quite some time since I’ve written on this poor little forgotten blog, March 7th to be exact, but a conversation with my sister had me logging on to GoDaddy, dusting the cobwebs off the website, and trying to remember how to put some words down on a page. ...
Last evening, I changed purses, something I often do, and if you know me, you know I have an entire closet filled with purses I can choose from. This morning, I grabbed my purse and my cart, which was filled with three large garbage bags stuffed with clothes I needed to bring to Goodwill, ...
I know it’s been a long while since I’ve written anything that didn’t have to do with contracts, emails, or a grocery list, but the broken printer in my office sent me down a video rabbit hole that I was not expecting. Once again, I found myself apologizing to my children for being an ...
I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything down, and I hope to change that in 2023. My Mild Cognitive Impairment diagnosis earlier this year has taken a lot of my words. However, I found some last night and thought I’d share. I’m a big fan of the Eve’s. Christmas Eve, the night ...
When you’re a child, you inevitably have a favorite Aunt or Uncle, and if you are lucky, they are married to each other. I was lucky because my favorite aunt on my father’s side was Aunt Nancy, and she just so happened to be married to my favorite uncle, Uncle Casey. This morning, my uncle Casey ...
This weekend my baby got married—the last one of my two children. I now am a mother of two married adults, and I woke up this morning feeling weird. I’m not sure why; neither of my kids has lived at home for years, and my daughter has lived with her wife for two years, ...
As I lay in the dark with the sound of ocean waves crashing in my ears from my sleepbuds, I thought, what could it hurt? In my head, I said, “so God, what’s your plan here?” I haven’t talked to God in years, I’m not usually a fan, but earlier in the evening, I got ...
Hi, I know it has been quite a long time since I’ve sat down and put some words on paper. I could say life has been crazy, but it really hasn’t. I could say I have been wrapped up in planning my daughter’s wedding, but I haven’t. I could say my job has been ...
Every year for the last seven years, this day, August 31, has been a weird day for me. The feeling usually starts around the 20th of the month and promptly sets up camp in the forefront of my mind. With every smell of coffee brewing, it nudges itself a little further to the front ...
My daughter got engaged last week, and I couldn’t be more proud, excited, and happy. I was lucky enough to go with her when she picked up her girlfriend’s ring, and as I sat in the car listening to her tell me how she was going to propose, I knew a few things for certain. ...
Touring is hard, and some days you are not the best version of yourself. Unfortunately, today I was far from the best version of myself, and an unsuspecting front desk person bore the brunt of the worst version of me. I have no excuses but some explanation. Today was the 6th show day in ...
