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Black Lives Matter

At the beginning of May, I spoke with my kids about Ahmaud and we ran in honor of his death at the hands of racist white men. Now, at the end of May, as the riots take place and cities around the country are burning, it is hard to know what I can do. Black lives matter. I truly believe that. I know racism is alive and rampant throughout America. I know people of color have it much harder than I do. They've tried peacefully over and over to try to get their point across. Nothing changes. Things get to a boiling point yet again and a riot or two may break out. Racism is in the news. Then status quo resumes. Change hasn't happened. Racial profiling continues. Racist killings continue. A couple of years ago I was driving home from the beach and was distracted in passing food back to my kids and on a pretty empty freeway, my speedometer crept up without me realizing it. Next thing I know, I glance out of my passenger window to see a police car entering the freeway in the lane ne...
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The Half Time Show Heard Round the World

"Why are my nipples inappropriate and Garrett's aren't?" Leila's question as she got in the shower was a good one but not one I wanted to try to have while she was in the shower because, with two perforated eardrums, her hearing isn't great right now and add the running water, there wouldn't be a chance of our conversation working out well. While she showered, I gathered pajamas for everyone with her question on my mind. As soon as she was out of the shower and I was helping her brush her wet hair, she repeated her question, "Why are my nipples inappropriate and Garrett's aren't?" By now Caleb was getting in the shower and wanted to hear our conversation and took the fastest shower I've ever seen him take. Side note: We are a very open family in the way of nudity... not intentionally I suppose, but my kids are frequently walking in and out of our bathroom and see Allen, me, and one another naked. The only conversation I remember A...
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Storm of Stuff

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As I carried the sixth TV from the house to toss on the trash pile, I thought of how much time had been spent earning the money that had been used to buy all of the stuff now rotting in the late summer heat. There were easily over 90 pairs of shoes that were added to the pile of trash, among dressers, couches, bed frames, mattresses, TV stands, kitchen cabinets, papers, pictures and hundreds of articles of clothes. It was devastating for the family to see all of their stuff being carried out of their flooded home and having to determine what they wanted to try salvage from Tropical Storm Imelda. Ms Tonya, Mr Doug, Ms Maria and DJ were grateful to be safe and repeatedly expressed, “We still have our family and that’s what matters. That’s all we have.”  This is just a portion of what we pulled out of the home after Tropical Storm/Depression Imelda. If flood waters rushed into our home in the middle of the night, what of ours would be ruined and lost? A lot.  Would ...
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A Silly Whim

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"It's just a whim Scott." "A whim?" "When you do something just because you feel like it." If you didn't grow up in the early 90s, over-watching Wee-Sing in Sillyville, you probably won't recognize the above dialogue between Scott and the talking tree. I'm guessing few people outside of my immediate family will even have a clue of what I'm talking about. Those lines kept running through my mind last night as I fell asleep because I did something on a whim: I applied for a part-time writing job with Romper about parenting, pregnancy, etc. It wasn't just a whim though, it was a silly whim. Why? Because I have no real writing experience to speak of and had no idea what I would put on my resume or include in my portfolio of work samples. I saw the job posting and thought, "That would be fun." I entertained the idea for a couple of hours and when my husband got home from work, I debated not even telling him about it un...
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Finding Balance Through Yoga

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For years yoga felt uncomfortable to me even though I was pretty flexible; it didn't feel like exercise and holding awkward poses seemed like a waste of time. I would attempt it once or twice in any given year and reaffirm that it was not for me. After having my fourth baby, my pelvic organ prolapse was so bad that my doctor recommended not running, lifting or doing any high impact exercise until I stopped breastfeeding, my hormones normalized and things had improved "down under." Since I was planning to breastfeed for a year, I knew that I would be going without  real  exercise for at least a year... that sounded like a death sentence to me, especially since I had already gone without exercising for six months prior to Zach's birth. Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that exercise is my outlet and a source of joy. If I'm struggling to find happiness in my life, I can play basketball, soccer or do a hard workout and my outlook won't feel ...
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