During today’s first walk, I spent time talking with an old friend from high school. We talked about many things, but one thing we touched upon that got me thinking was the amount of stigma associated with seeking out help for mental illness. This strikes me as so odd given the prevalence of mental illness.…
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The Santa Closet
A few days ago I walked with Nora- my oldest friend. We met in preschool, and pretty quickly became inseparable. One of the traits that united us was that we were wise beyond our years, as our teachers liked to remind us in each grade level we traveled through. As the holidays approach, I’m reminded…
Read MoreExpect the Unexpected
Yesterday I walked with an old high school friend I hadn’t talked to in a long time. This blog has been a great way to reconnect with people and hear more about their stories of pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing as we all reach the age when that’s become more common. One of the things…
Read MoreA Little Help from my Friends
Yesterday I had a lovely but utilitarian walk to the post office to get stamps for our Christmas cards. As I walked, I talked to my old college roommate, Colleen, who has been a rock of support to both me and Matt throughout this entire ordeal. I even got to hear a few attempts at…
Read MoreA Team is a Wish Your Heart Makes
The theme of one of Monday’s walks was definitely caretaking. I walked while talking to an old friend from graduate school, who has had two babies in the last two years. With each of them, she had hyperemesis gravidarum– a condition that causes intense nausea and vomiting throughout one’s entire pregnancy and results in dehydration,…
Read MoreIdeal with Anger
Today I went for a hike at a nearby mountain. I’ve been meaning to spend more time there, and though it was a challenging hike, the view was worth it and the self reflection was important. I did a lot of reflecting about anger. I get mad at myself a lot these days. I’m mad…
Read MoreI Think Therefore I’m Damned
Today I walked to a cemetery. Not for any particular reason, except that I like the view. It sits on a hill, in the shadow of the distinctive mountain near my house, with some old scraggly trees. It’s the kind of place that’s good for thinking. I’m realizing I’ve been avoiding doing much thinking lately.…
Read MoreA New Leash on Life
I’m not sure how to write about today’s walk because it had two poles of its own. On the one hand, I had a lovely walk with my friend from college where I recounted the ways in which I made genuine friendships with the most unexpected but inspiring people in the ward this time, and…
Read MoreThe Last Crazy Straw
“It’s strange how we can hold so many different truths in our mind at once,” Kate says as we walk today. We are talking about breastfeeding, but we could be talking about so many things. Kate knows about holding disparate truths in her mind and heart, because she had a baby during the pandemic, like…
Read MoreTeach for Mom-erica
My husband was sick last week, so it was just me on Bailey duty. The first day was the roughest, with Bailey being in one of those moods where everything that’s not a toy is a toy, and everything that is a toy is completely uninteresting. So the next day, I was determined to make…
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Postpartum Psychosisterhood 