My daughter Sophie believes in Santa. I mean, she really believes in Santa. It’s not even Thanksgiving as I write this, yet she’s already talking about how great it will be when her Elf on the Shelf gets here. That’s right, folks. My eight-year-old is such a big believer in…

In case you missed it, I’ve been slogging through a really deep depression lately. I’ve been plagued by unrelenting knee pain since mid-July, and upon my lipedema surgeon’s advice, I made an appointment at an orthopedic center in early September. The PA-C there agreed that I needed an MRI to…

Since my ex DARVO’d me, I've learned that it's all about control. — DARVO is an acronym coined by psychologist Jennifer J. Freyd, PhD, which means to “deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.” When we talk about DARVO, we’re talking about a very common strategy utilized by abusers in response to even the mere possibility that they might be held accountable for…

I don’t appreciate the position he’s put me in with our child. — My ex and his wife have a girlfriend who lives with them and acts like a second mother to their two youngest children, but he’s never told me about the addition to their family. From what I understand, she’s been in their lives for more than a year, possibly two…

Last week, I received a 27-page report of findings for my daughter’s recent psychoeducational/neuropsychological evaluation. The day before that, my daughter and I met with the psychologist over video chat to discuss the findings. We were both pretty excited to learn more about the way she learns, and curious to…

I’m not sure how much more of a runaround I can take. The orthopedic center that ordered my knee MRI asked me in October if I want to get surgery to clean up my torn medial meniscus, and perhaps deal with the large Baker’s cyst and joint effusion by draining…

Then why do I feel like I’ve done something wrong? — I’ve had to stop going to lymphedema therapy. Despite such successful crowdfunding, my campaign simply hasn’t been able to keep up with the constant (and unpredictable) costs, plus, my knee pain has been getting so much worse that doing anything has become too difficult. Sometimes, impossible. For many months now…

Hey folks. I’ve had some readers reach out and ask where I’ve been since I’ve had a gap of several days between my last two stories. Honestly? I’m “here.” …

My kid didn’t know how to tell me she was being mistreated — When my daughter Sophie and I moved from Minnesota down to Tennessee, she was two-and-a-half. We made the move because a.) I could rent a decent apartment for less money in the south than in the Twin Cities, and b.) I wanted to give Sophie a chance to know more…