UnGastheLight

We Took a Hard Left, But We’re Alright.

Mama, come in here! She was in the bathtub and had been singing along with a song I hadn’t heard before. Something about a broken home and a cracked foundation. But she had paused it to call to me. I went in the bathroom and sat on the closed toilet as she said, loudly, Alexa-Continue reading “We Took a Hard Left, But We’re Alright.”

Stand Up for Me (& I’ll Stand Beside You)

When you’re in an abusive relationship, you don’t even see the triangulation that’s happening. At least, you don’t see it for what it is. You see something – but not with your eyes. You feel it. You feel the sharp points of each angle. The stabs are there but you spend all kinds of timeContinue reading “Stand Up for Me (& I’ll Stand Beside You)”

One Year Ago: The Boy Who Cried Neglect

One year ago today x filed an emergency ex parte claiming I was neglecting our daughter. I didn’t know it until days later, though. Until sometime the week after. It had already been denied by the time I found out about it and he had already refiled a regular motion. One year and two daysContinue reading “One Year Ago: The Boy Who Cried Neglect”

Standing Solo

2021 Note: Last night, during a fun question and answer game, my daughter told me she wished her name was a middle name she should have no clue she used to have (Story of that name in post below from my personal blog in November 2019). This older post is about the first time IContinue reading “Standing Solo”

28 Pricks

And then it was Angelina’s turn to dance. Her heart started beating like a drum and she couldn’t remember what she was supposed to be doing. From Angelina and the Princess by Katharine Holabird This is what it’s like to ‘co’parent with a narcissistic parent (this is what it’s like when you’re free): you workContinue reading “28 Pricks”

The Only Way Through is Out.

Everything is gestation and then birthing. Rainer Maria Rilke I was 41 years, five months and 26 days old when I gave birth to my daughter. When I decided, after two decades of being childless by choice, that I was going to see if I could be with child by choice, I was old enoughContinue reading “The Only Way Through is Out.”

She’s Not Guilty, Your Honor

I have a lot of conversations in my head. I guess most people do, but I think those of us newly out of an abusive relationship have more than we ever have had before in our lives. The harshness of the smear campaigns means we have a lot to say and that saying it willContinue reading “She’s Not Guilty, Your Honor”

Not Afraid (but still terrified)

I wasn’t afraid of the bulliesand that just made the bullies worse. – Fiona Apple, “Shameika” {As I work through a new post about the newest uptick in intimidation and harassment, I was reminded of this post from 4/28/2020 on my personal blog.Continue reading “Not Afraid (but still terrified)”

One Decade, Three Women

Ten years ago tomorrow, I stood, alone, in the kitchen of a man I thought I loved, after he’d already left for work, and looked around and took one deep, deep breath that I exhaled in several short bursts and said, out loud up toward the ceiling of his tiny, perfect little house: I can’tContinue reading “One Decade, Three Women”

Dissonance (& creating space for harmony).

Mama, can I ask you something? It was less than an hour after she got home from an overnight with x. That means it could be anything. Really: anything. The only sure thing is it would almost certainly involve something untrue about me. Sometimes she doesn’t ask until hours later. Or even a day orContinue reading “Dissonance (& creating space for harmony).”