A few months ago, when a very close friend of mine unexpectedly lost a parent, I reminded her multiple times that there was no right or wrong way to grieve.  That she owed absolutely no one an explanation or any apologies for the way she chose to deal with her loss.  I never imagined that later on in the year, I'd be giving myself the same speech. Writing has always been therapeutic for me, Continue reading →

It's probably not healthy to be so viscerally angry at a hurricane. But here we are. Last week when I sat down to write about the number of random fears that were causing me anxiety about the upcoming Barkley Fall Classic, I failed to list a direct hit of my house and hometown by a massive category 4 (potentially a 5 when it's all said and done) hurricane.  A slight oversight, indeed.  Now, Continue reading →

If ever there was a saying in the human language that I could 100% relate to, it's the adage "word vomit".   I'm not sure if adage is the appropriate descriptor for a noun whose first Google search result is urbandictionary.com, but we're going to go with it anyway.  It makes it sounds fancy. Fancy vomit. Most days, the thoughts running through my head are so intense and incessant, they Continue reading →

I hit the snooze button on my alarm, twice, before I reluctantly crawled out of bed.  It was 4:45 am (and 4:50, and 4:55...) and I had committed to running 15 miles with a stranger.   Meeting up with someone you've never met, in the dark, in what was likely an empty parking lot, is the kind of stuff that Lifetime movies are made of. Unless, of course, you are a runner. In which case, meeting Continue reading →

I am a perpetual over-sharer, not much in my life is sacred or safe from the world wide web.   Complete strangers probably know me just as well as my own mother does, because I document everything in 21st century fashion: online .  Lately, though, there have been some things going on in my world that I've kept in the shadows of this blog or my social media feeds, simply because it's not really my Continue reading →

Another forward and disclaimer, that might sound mighty familiar: I’ve shared – and overshared – a lot of personal information on this blog over the last decade.  This might be one of the most personal posts I’ve decided to publish to date.  It’s hard to open and admit to the world, friends, coworkers, and complete strangers alike,  that you are flawed.  But in the spirit of sharing so that others Continue reading →