I met someone. Everything about our relationship is unconventional and foreign to me — from living on different continents (so, literally foreign) to the circumstances under which it ended. Spoiler alert? Sorry, this story doesn't have a happy ending — at least not a classic rom com happy ... read more
I can do hard things.
My birthday was a couple weeks ago. 34. I've spent 34 whole years on this planet, and I still don't know what the f I'm doing. In the weeks leading up my birthday and in the weeks since, it's felt like every day presents a stressful obstacle to remind me that sometimes I have to try harder at ... read more
Close Enough: The Enneagram, Therapy, and Meeting Myself for the First Time
In January I spent a week house sitting for my parents while they were out of town. I slept in their bedroom, so I used their bathroom, too. It's pretty big — big enough for me to spread all of my getting-ready stuff everywhere and make a mess that made it seem like it was my permanent residence. My ... read more
To My Unborn Nephews: Advice for Life on the Outside
Hey, guys. It's me, your Aunt Tara. You're still all-up-in-a-belly, cooking away, getting big and strong and ready for life on the outside. I've been watching you grow for months now, and every time you get bigger, I wonder who's in there. Who will you be? What will you love? How will you shine? I ... read more
Me, My Depression, and I
I remember the day I started taking antidepressants. I waited a couple days after picking up the prescription, partially in denial and partially terrified. I was a teacher at the time and arrived at school early, scrambling to get some-sort-of-ready for the day. Sitting at my desk, surrounded by ... read more
The Search: My Fledgling Quest for Answers about Faith, God, and Theology
I have a love-hate relationship with pants. It's usually like 90% hate, 10% love, depending on the pants in question. If you're a generally regular-sized person with a few plus-sized parts, shopping for pants turns into a special kind of torture. My closet is full of high-rise, low-rise, mid-rise, ... read more
Alone Together
"You guys, if I'm still single next year, it's just going to be me, Mom, and Dad on Christmas," I half-whined to my siblings on Christmas morning, 2015. My brother, sister, and their spouses spent the holiday with us, so, I knew that, based on the Rule Book of Married People, they'd be at their ... read more
Space
This year has been super weird. It seems that not a week went by without a bizarre / extraordinary / unfortunate political, social, pop-cultural event dominating my Twitter feed. I listen to and read lots of news from lots of sources, and the amount of confusing, heartbreaking, and/or WTF? moments ... read more
Reminders
This past Christmas my siblings and I gifted my parents with a family photo shoot. The only professional photos we had ever taken were at my brother's and sister's weddings and for the church directory when I still had giant poofy bangs and matched my sister in a checkered suspender dress thing in ... read more
