“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing. At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket…
I’m still working on this one (this is rough draft number five), but it’s beginning to take shape. __________________________________ Cancer, the silent killer. By the time you see the symptoms, it’s too late. Blood in the urine, bile behind the eyes. Jaundiced skin stretched over calcified bones; you watch the organs fail, one by one.…
Photo Courtesy: http://tonyfoto.com/ ________________________________________ Dear Child, You did not have a name. It’s not that I didn’t have dozens – hundreds – picked out, of course; it’s just that naming you would have made this all too real. So I will call you child, and hope you don’t find it too condescending. This world is…
I feel my happiness coming back. It’s been a slow process, but it’s returning, and I can feel the warmth spreading through my body. I doubt myself less often. I feel encouraged, supported, and appreciated. I have rediscovered the love of family, the love of friends, and the love of myself I had so carelessly…
I was in a bad place a few months back and wrote a lot of negative, dark poetry. Since this blog is about optimism, I hesitated to share it publicly, assuming it would be poorly received or, worse yet, discourage some of my readers. After much thought, I opted to start posting the poetry and…
Loss is one of the few things in life you don’t become desensitized to with repeat exposure. When you lay in the sun day after day, you develop a tan – your body’s natural resistance to the sun’s rays. (And skin cancer, of course, but that’s another story.) When you tweeze your eyebrows continuously, seeking…
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dadoodle/6999296936/ The Floridian rain gets me down and produces a sense of melancholy, a rare acrimony I do not normally possess. I never know what to do with these emotions, as I so rarely feel them. Do I find a quiet room and cry? Do I look up a therapist on Google and…
My husband and I found out that one of our closest friends died in an accident on his motorcycle last night. He was doing all the right things. Wore his helmet and protective gear. Wasn’t speeding. Hadn’t been drinking. The other car just didn’t see him. Per the official report, she “failed to yield to…
Victoria Elizabeth Ann 