a sad woman sitting on a sofa
Sibling

He Was Fifty. She Put On Cartoons.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com From the outside, it probably looked like kindness. A man who doesn't speak is lying in a hospital bed. A nurse turns on the TV, finds a children's cartoon, and leaves it playing. Something gentle and bright to pass the time. My brother was fifty years old. When I… Continue reading He Was Fifty. She Put On Cartoons.

a woman with hands over the file folders
Uncategorized

Two Buckets, One Person: What Happens When Systems Don’t Fit

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com I met a person with IDD while working in behavioral health. They were in acute crisis stabilization โ€” the kind of admission that's supposed to be short, contained, focused on getting someone safe enough to leave. But this person was incredibly anxious about discharge. Not about being in crisis.… Continue reading Two Buckets, One Person: What Happens When Systems Don’t Fit

woman sitting in front of macbook
Uncategorized

When “Just Call and Ask” Isn’t Simple At All

Photo by energepic.com on Pexels.com I had to refill a prescription this week. One prescription. Here's what that took: a call to my mail-order pharmacy, who told me they'd outsourced the fill to another pharmacy. An online chat that couldn't help and told me to call. A phone call that got transferred four or five… Continue reading When “Just Call and Ask” Isn’t Simple At All

photo of a woman with blue pants sitting on a green sofa
Sibling

Navigating Project Stalls: Insights for Sibs

Photo by KoolShooters on Pexels.com I have a confession. Somewhere around page 100 of the sib book I've been writing, I stopped. (Not the book proposal that was just accepted.) This blog, in a book. I hired an editor. She did a once-over, and I did not finish the corrections. Not because I ran out… Continue reading Navigating Project Stalls: Insights for Sibs

a stressed woman leaning on a concrete wall
Sibling

Was It Stress โ€” Or Was It Something More?

Photo by Thirdman on Pexels.com I've been in and out of therapy as an adult. Not because something catastrophic happened to me. Not because I had a single defining trauma. But because growing up as a sib left marks I didn't fully understand until I was well into adulthood โ€” and some of them I'm… Continue reading Was It Stress โ€” Or Was It Something More?