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In Life…
In life, there is grief, there is sadness, and there is pain. But there is also laughter and joy and smiles and euphoria and love. In my memoir, Stretched, I give you a sense of what it was like deep down in that oceanic abyss, and with these posts, I aim to bring you right back up for air. Sure, there were hard times, but there were also so many good times. I kept a diary for many, many years, and in that diary, I have hundreds of stories related to dating and drinking (which you will find under the “…But I Prefer the Bar” section) and more recently, stories…
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Stuck
I was screaming. Metal bars encapsulated my head, and the yellow Golden Arches of McDonald’s were glistening in the sun high above me. People were gasping, children crying. The fire department raced in my direction, but before they were able to reach me, my mother had already covered my entire head in slick, greasy butter. I will never know why I stuck my head through the fence of that McDonald’s all those years ago… …but I will also never forget it. We were on our way down to Disney World in Florida for my sister, Sam’s, Make a Wish trip. She was going on year three of battling leukemia, while…
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The Mental Load
It was one morning in mid-December, and I asked my husband, “Sweetie, did you call your sister to tell her we aren’t going to make it for the Christmas party?” “Oh, shoot, no. I’ll call her later today.” And the mental load piles up. See, there’s this little box in my head that has been overflowing for weeks. In it, there are these small imaginary pieces of paper, each containing a thought, and until that thought is somehow resolved, it remains in the pile. Do you want to see what this looks like on a typical day for me? Let’s start from the moment I drop the kids off at…
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Drinking to Forget
A few days after my humiliating text messaging episode, I figured what better way to forget all the stupid decisions I make… …than to drink an inordinate amount of alcohol. So, as soon as I left the office, I went straight to The Factory. There, I threw open the front door and strutted in like I owned the place (I don’t), and there, sitting at the bar, were Bella and Andrew. “Hey, Michelle!” Bella said, excited to see me. “Sit down,” Andrew commanded. “You’re gonna play a game with us.” I did as instructed and hung my purse on the hook below the bar. The game was called “Stupid Seven”…