My Story

Below are posts, in chronological order, where I have written about my life. Eventually, I hope to have it all told.


1997

How I stopped the apocalypse when I was only 12 years old

How I stopped the apocalypse when I was only 12 years old

“Correct!” the local Christian radio show host said. “You’re the winner!”


2009

the toxic impulse of nostalgia

the toxic impulse of nostalgia

“…I consider nostalgia to be a toxic impulse. It is the… yearning delusion that the past was better [than the present]…” - John Hodgman, in Vacationland


2015

the night in the psych ward

the night in the psych ward

What you don’t understand until you experience it yourself is that the process of entering the psychiatric ward makes you feel like you have done something wrong. The attendant asked me to hand over any personal items, which turned out to be only my wedding and engagement rings and my phone. I took off my shoes. She patted me down to make sure I didn’t …


2019

you belong among the wildflowers

you belong among the wildflowers

The sky was bright blue, cloudless, and we passed few cars on the road. We drove through the Scandinavian cities of western South Carolina—Denmark, Sweden, Norway. This wasn’t the fastest way to get from Columbia to southeastern Georgia, at least not as the crow flew. But on a Friday afternoon, I-95 turns into a parking lot, and Apple Maps suggested goi…


2020

on losing a year of my life, but not life itself

on losing a year of my life, but not life itself

I looked at my husband’s furrowed brow as he stared at his phone. Our newborn son was in my arms. I had just been wheeled into the hospital room where I’d spend the next two nights after the birth of our fourth child.