“Take care of yourself.” I heard that same line over and over again after I had Madilyn in 2005 at the age of 21. I’m sure you have, too. Take care of myself? I can’t even give my child everything she needs so how am I supposed to take care […]
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My Wish for 2018
Every year at the TED Conference, a $1 Million TED Prize is awarded to one leader in support of their big idea to ‘spark global change’. The winner is also given the opportunity to share this Wish with fellow TED attendees to request they each do everything they 18-minute do […]
Connecting for Meaningful Conversation
In writing my memoir, I forced myself to dig really deep into my emotions and the feelings they triggered during the different experiences and periods of my life. I went through many dark days when I felt completely alone in the world. I often felt disconnected from the rest of […]
What It’s Like to Feel Like You’re Never Doing Enough for Your Special Needs Child
I wish I could say that the feeling of never doing enough for my child, and therefore never being enough as a parent, goes away, but for me, it hasn’t. It lessens on Madilyn’s “good” days, but even then, it lingers in the shadows, never allowing me to let my […]
Felt with the Heart
I wrote an article about Madilyn and being her mother for the local family magazine Savvy Kids when we lived in Little Rock in July 2012. It recently came up in my Facebook memories so I thought I would share it with you. Felt with the Heart, A Mother’s Memoir […]
My Lifelong Struggles
“…and that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength.” Perhaps I shouldn’t start this blog with the hardest parts of my life… but I’ve found that putting my struggles into words, both my struggles within and outward with the world, […]
A Fresh Start
I know you’re wondering what happened to the memoir I planned to publish over a year ago. I was so excited about the big launch and then… crickets. So, what happened exactly? The answer is simple enough. I got scared. The book was ready to go, but I guess I […]