Depression
When an Extrovert Goes Quiet: Finding Myself after Loss
I’m a slightly shy, somewhat awkward extrovert. By shy, I mean that I really have to psyche myself up to walk into a room full of strangers or into a group of people I haven’t met before. (I’ve never been so nervous as the day I arrived at the Miami airport to meet up with…
Read MoreThis Year Is Different
It’s the end of October, the days are getting shorter, and for the first time in at least 5 years, I am enjoying fall again. It used to be my favorite season. Then, in 2007, our newborn baby had major surgery the day before Halloween. I looked at the fall calendar, saw that surgery date,…
Read MoreHead Colds, the Apocalypse, and Fighting Depression with Dirt
There’s something about a head cold that puts me in mind of an apocalypse. I don’t sleep, food loses its taste and thus its pleasure, and as I drown in snot and soggy Kleenex, I despair for humanity and myself. It sounds melodramatic. When I think about the relative ease of a cold compared to…
Read Morei’m in a hopeless place but…
(RSS and email readers click over to hear the song) it’s been a little hopeless around here i’m too tired to weave words we await news a verdict on his broken heart my stomach drops with every email chime every phone call but we may wait months i am afraid grieving exhausted dark clouds loom…
Read MoreGratitude Lists and What To Do with Pain
For about a year I’ve been looking for every-day gifts, the little (and not-so-little) things that with familiarity I take for granted and stop seeing. Ann Voskamp hosts a link-up every Monday for those who are doing the same. She has challenged readers to see the gifts in what she calls “the hard graces” –…
Read MoreGrief, Depression, and Falling Back in Love with Fall
I feel normal today. I shouldn’t, but I do. (#517 times 100!) It is two days until the third anniversary of our daughter’s death, and one day until an important heart check-up for my son. I should be a sobbing mess, barely able to get out of bed, let alone focus on a screen and…
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