Death, Family, Grief, Life, Loss, parenthood, parenting, Photography, Photos

Mommy, I Need to Water the Flowers

The work ahead of my family seems heavier than a load anyone wants to lift.It's a load my students this year would say, "This is too much work." It's the type of work previous students would say, "You doin' too much." Sometimes I think my past traumatic experiences are taken lightly. But, those ordeals made it… Continue reading Mommy, I Need to Water the Flowers

Death, Family, Grief, parenthood, parenting, Writing

Life after Her Death

There is a sense you have nothing to lose after a major life catastrophe. I have previously written about having a purpose to write.  Life experience has offered some funny situations  about which I’ve written and more serious events.  I thought there would be just a period of relief after last school year and a… Continue reading Life after Her Death

Family, Life, parenthood, Poetry, Writing

Rumors about Eddie

You know there's rumors going 'round about Eddie. Some say he left his now adult daughters and never returned. Others say he planned to pick them up, but went skiing instead. Didn't you hear the rumors going 'round about Eddie? They, maybe a daughter or two, say he left them on the front porch, and… Continue reading Rumors about Eddie

Advocacy, Life, Mental Health, PTSD, Writing

The Call to Write about Trauma

I wrote some meaningful poems during that time. 

I wrote some crappy, thirteen-year-old blow your nose in notebook paper poems.

Cook, Cooking, Food, parenthood, Poetry, Writing

Pimping Out My Mac and Cheese

My daughter wants to pimp out my Mac and cheese. It’s creamy with the heavy cream and it’s three cheese. She says I can visit my students house to house, and give out my Mac and cheese. I’m a louse for not going house to house like the teachers you see on TV. I don’t… Continue reading Pimping Out My Mac and Cheese

Holiday, kindness, Life, PTSD

The Thing about Memorial Day

During Coronavirus, I have admired the different steps people have taken to show kindness when I thought it was going the way of the dinosaurs. Just as my son with autism believes dinosaurs will make a come back, kindness has made a small comeback. We need, as a society, to take kindness to the next… Continue reading The Thing about Memorial Day

Education, Mental Health, teaching

Things Every Teacher Needs to Hear

From my education blog that I started in January, I have a word or more about things teachers need to hear now. via Things Every Teacher Needs to Hear

Books, Characters, Poetry, Young Adult

The Plot is in the Poem

Let's talk about Lucy. I have a lot to say about this book, so there will be more than one post. While everyone else is discussing our boy Coriolanus Snow in their reviews, I want to write about Suzanne Collins's character, Lucy Gray Baird. I got the book, the Kindle version, and audible. The old… Continue reading The Plot is in the Poem

Advocacy, autism, Life, parenthood, Writing

Busting Up the Brick in the Wall

Because as exhausting as my list of social cue questions is for me, imagine how many people there are who feel that way.

autism, Education, Life, teaching, Writing

The Only Place I Ever Felt Normal

She was a touchstone for the last time I felt safe before I entered what would lead to an almost photographic memory of torture in middle school.