I want to tell you a story about when things just happen the way they’re supposed to…
***
It was springtime 2010. I had been out of college for a couple of years and had just moved back home with my parents in Evanston after an awful apartment situation in Rogers Park (a neighborhood in Chicago just north of the city). (That’s a story for another day!)
While I had lived in the apartment, I had the opportunity to […]
Martin and I got married almost a year ago (October 15th) and I wanted to commemorate the day here, on my blog, by posting some photos and making some lists. Without further ado […]
It was the summer of 1997. I was 12, and just about to enter dreaded middle school (eek, I know). Old enough to stay home during the day while my parents were at work, and make plans for sleepovers with my girlfriends, and watch all the VH1 & MTV I wanted. I liked to watch the Top 10 Videos regularly on both. This was before the Carson Daly and his Total Request Live (TRL) days. It was the glory days of the 90’s music scene, especially for a 12-year-old girl, with hard-hitting female rock anthem singles like […]
Again, we were Collaborative Camping one summer in my youth, up nearby one of the zillions of lakes in Wisconsin, with my parents, and next door neighbors and their three boys. The three boys and I were so close that they were more like my brothers.
We had been camping for a few days, so our tents and site were pretty well established at this point, but one morning it began to rain. And rain, and rain, and rain […]
Let’s continue on the Camping thread, and journey to our second and third Collaborative Camping trips, in Eagle River, Wisconsin. We found a spot that we loved: nestled in the corner of the camping property, far enough away from most other sites, (We had to drive down a hill to access our site, and at one point, all the kids were out running an errand with the boy’s Dad. He stopped at the top of the hill and said, get out and HANG ON! […]
Much like the typical Midwestern family, my family went camping a lot when I was younger. I loved camping and a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was a Girl Scout starting at the age of 5, so my inner adventurer was alive and well, but also because I was an only child who grew up with a house full of boys next door. […]
I lived abroad in Palermo, Sicily for three and a half months, one summer in college. I was traveling to be a nanny, and was paired with a host family: Parents, Marino and Angela and their three year old boy, Aldo; also known as the spawn of Satan. (Yes, he was that bad! Another story for another time.) In retrospect, my host family was phenomenal. They were kind to me, treated me well and made sure I had anything I needed. For instance, the first full day I was there, Marino made sure that […]
Since I returned from Core Peer Support Training, I’ve enrolled in the Certified Recovery Support Specialist Competency Training, which takes place over three days, spanning three months, in Springfield. I pack my lunch, and a backpack of class supplies and trek over there for the day. It’s about an hour and a half away from our house, so it makes for an ok day trip. Pretty fool-proof, right? – WRONG – […]
We’ve talked about holiday traditions, and the way that we’re accustomed to celebrating certain holidays. Growing up, for me the 4th of July always included Parades, Picnics, Music & Fireworks. The most important aspect for me, as usual, is Family! As long as I was with those that I loved, all of those elements were just icing on the holiday cake. But then there are times when something changes. What happens when a holiday doesn’t go the way you plan? What happens when the routine is disrupted? (Trigger Warning Ahead… *Names have been changed, to protect anonymity) […]
Martin and I get the Sunday paper delivered each week. I look forward to pulling it apart section by section and learning more about the new community we live in. I try to read it all, including corn and crop reports and University of Illinois business (FOREVER A BUCKEYE!!!) and save the store advertisements and comics for last.
When I was a kid, I only read two sections of the paper. The two most important sections of the paper, by my “kid standards” were: […]
A Hopeful Midwesterner 