Thanks for joining me! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton Special Needs Sibling.... This is an actual thing. I knew there had to be others but I had no idea where or how to find them. I was actually going to start my own type of support group.… Continue reading The Journey Begins
My dad's sister Penny had limited speech. Most people couldn't understand much of what she said. But there was one phrase she had down cold — one phrase that was perfectly clear every single time. "I know you." It didn't matter if she'd just met you or known you for decades. Penny greeted everyone the… Continue reading When Penny Said “I Know You”
Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com There's a version of the sibling experience that doesn't get talked about enough. Not the general "it was complicated growing up" version. The one where your sibling had significant behavioral challenges — meltdowns, aggression, self-injury — or serious medical needs that meant hospitalizations, crisis calls, and a household that… Continue reading When Your Sibling’s Needs Are High, Your Mental Health Needs Are Too
Curdled milk. Poop under my fingernails. Snot on the cuff of my sleeve.Anticipating every need. Analyzing every cry, shout, and scream.Cutting up food. Changing outfits. Dosing medicines. Reading the same stories over and over. Filling the time. Somehow, surviving. I’m doing this…again. When I first considered having my own children, I thought I had it… Continue reading I’m Doing Motherhood…Again
Brain fog. Trouble concentrating. Feeling like you're constantly a half-step behind in conversations. Exhausted after social situations that didn't used to drain you. If you're a woman of a certain age, you know exactly what I just described. Perimenopause. Obviously. Or maybe ADHD — because apparently half of us are just now figuring out we've… Continue reading What I Kept Blaming on Perimenopause (And Why That’s Not an Accident)
I started writing the night my brother died. Not because I had a plan, or because I thought it would become anything. I just didn’t know where else to put everything that was happening in my head. So I wrote to him. I’m a neurodiverse writer, which basically means my brain doesn’t switch off neatly.… Continue reading The Night My Brother Died, I Started Writing to Him
