The Fat Girl’s Guide to (not) Getting Pregnant

Step One: Want it. For years, I imagined Emily following me around with a blanket in her arms like Linus from the Charlie Brown cartoons.  Her hair would fall into black ringlets that dripped to her shoulders like water.  She would never grow over two feet tall in my mind. Read more

You Rise

(For my dear sister, Kay, I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.) Your face is fading. I see shadows of chin, cheekbone, childhood inside my mind. Orange Kool-Aid, baloney sandwiches, Aunt Carol’s peonies like colossal, pink faces thrill us. He loves me, he loves me not. You tell me you Read more

A Tale of Financial Abuse and How I Got Out

During fall of 2007, my marriage entered its final stages of a breakdown. It was just a matter of time, as the beginning of the marriage had been extremely rocky. I had been suffering from undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, and GAD, while he, on the other hand, had undiagnosed ADHD. Read more