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.”
Category Archives: ‘Co’parenting
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”
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).”
Natural Consequences
(This post was written pre-COVID and during my original paternity case) This morning, my daughter, yet again, wasn’t ready on time. She’s barely five. This happens, right? All parents know this. Right? She suddenly doesn’t like going to school. Might have to do with her father and I finally splitting for good a few monthsContinue reading “Natural Consequences”
Feeling Some Kind of Way Today
I’m really feeling some kind of way today so I am ready to say too much on social media. To share too much. To rail at the sky with the unfairness of it all. To take out an ad in a local newspaper or hire a sky-writer to do a little large-scale truth-telling. To railContinue reading “Feeling Some Kind of Way Today”
Father’s Day
I have had lots of rough Mother’s Days over a couple of eras of my life, but despite being raised by a step-father (the man I now call Dad) and not having any real contact with my biological father past age eleven, I can’t remember ever having any particularly sad or tough Father’s Days. UntilContinue reading “Father’s Day”
An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Come In and Out of My Daughter’s Life
“I, too, used to want him to be proud of meAnd then I just wanted him to make amendsI wonder what lies he’s telling you about meto make sure that we’ll never be friends” – Fiona Apple, Newspaper Please don’t take it personally when I’m skeptical about how long you’ll be around. There have onlyContinue reading “An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Come In and Out of My Daughter’s Life”
You Think I Might Be Exaggerating, I Know You Do
Women (people) in my position know that you don’t really get it. That you’re suspect (rightfully so, really). We know that you think that we’re, at least a little, over-reacting or exaggerating. We’re not. We really wish we were. My daughter, five, came home tonight and ran in the bathroom saying, let me show youContinue reading “You Think I Might Be Exaggerating, I Know You Do”
Too Much Sugar
I got up early this morning despite being home all day so I can be available for my virtual court hearing. I went in the kitchen to start coffee so it would be ready by the time I finished feeding and taking the dogs outside. When I came back inside, I pulled a cup outContinue reading “Too Much Sugar”
Life After Emotional Abuse 