Mental Health

  • Writing While Raising Medically Complex Kids

    I have been taking a lot of writing breaks in the last eight months. It wasn’t entirely an accident. I’ve been writing to process my life since I was a little kid. Stories and essays helped me in ways talking never did. I’ve always identified as a writer. Getting my first piece published in 2017 only confirmed what I felt was true to my soul. Writing helps. Until it doesn’t. We have been dealing with an enormous amount of uncertainty in recent months at my house. Will Twin A have surgery? Won’t she? Will Twin B’s med change work? Will we need to change again? Was that a seizure? Is…

  • We Weren’t Meant to Live This Way

    I tell people that every single thing about every single aspect of my life changed the day my twins were diagnosed. I say that they gained a diagnosis and my soul gained somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 pounds. If I’m being honest, it’s probably more than that. I can feel the weight of that day. Every moment of every day, I can feel it. As I write this, many of my peers, my people, my village are at a conference in San Diego. They are all meeting in person, exchanging hugs and high fives. They’re celebrating small wins and commiserating in setbacks. They all understand the grief we are…