White coat hypertension.
I recently went to the doctor for the first time since coming to America. It was, by and large, the same as going to the doctor in Britain: dated banquet hall chairs in the waiting room, bustling nurses, typing doctors, surprisingly old fashioned scales. But the dynamic of the thing felt different than I remember … Continue reading
Diving In
Once upon a time I had a life I no longer loved and I ditched it. I ditched its ass hard. Great, wondrous things came of that flying leap into god-knows-what. Or rather, great, wondrous voids descended in quick succession and over many years, and in them I continued to find myself huddled in the … Continue reading
Things I Like — PRIDE
Windy City Bucket List Item #6: Big City Parade! Sunday we hopped to Boystown to celebrate this momentous, historic moment with laughter and Carnivale-worthy costumes. It was great catching Mardi Gras beads and just being silly. (The Village-People-styled ROTC unit dancing to Uptown Funk with choreographed rifle drills was freaking adorable.) But it wasn’t all … Continue reading
Eighteen Months
We married early in the morning. We’d waited so long. We wanted to be married that day, not fritter it in hazy preparation. And anyway, I was never one for elaborate hair-dos and make-up. We rose early, in the quiet of a sleepy lakefront village. All the tourists had gone home for the season. He … Continue reading
Saying It
Sometimes the right words illuminate the ineffable, sharpening my deepest eyes. But sometimes words are blunt tools dulling the sky with clumsy half-formed shapes. Lately it’s the latter. So I haven’t been writing much. Sometimes life is too big for words I guess. I’m on a new, scary exciting path. It fills me with hope … Continue reading
Entering Day 3 of Virulent Illness. I find, more often than I’d like to admit, that sickness strikes when I most need it. An imposed hiatus of silence in which the deeper, whispered truths of myself cannot be drowned out by commuter’s road rage or a long list of To Dos. Even if they were … Continue reading
Audacity, Self Awareness (& Basketball)
In 7th grade I played intramural basketball. Being a late bloomer in 90% of human functionality, namely anything which wasn’t purely cognitive and especially anything requiring social skills or awareness, I played basketball like a child. At 13, I didn’t care who was watching, or if my jersey was lumpy. I didn’t care if the … Continue reading
What I Learned in 2014
This time of year (even more than most) the internet is full of lists. Lists of what to buy; lists of how to be a better host (or a better person in general); lists of best Thises and Thats. Lists of how you’re living all wrong. Lists of things to do differently next year. And … Continue reading
Drawing Dinosaurs
In the first weeks of kindergarten I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Everyday I got to go out on my own to a place full of other kids and play and read and learn stuff. ALL MORNING. All the best things in life were crammed into that room. We had a proper playhouse, … Continue reading
One Small Thing
Life is made up of small things. Mostly these are the little gestures and daily patterns which make up existence, but every once in a while there are those magic, infinitesimal changes that alter the course of everything. Or if not everything, at least Important Things. ~ One week ago I became an Aunt. A … Continue reading
Que Sera Sara? 