Raising a Child Without A Dad

“Happy Father’s Day, Janis!” said my next-door neighbor.  I smiled and replied, “Yeah, thanks.”  It was presented as a compliment, but I felt weird being on the receiving end. I was well aware when I first decided to dive into the Single Mom By Choice world that my...

“You Date at The Level of Your Self-Esteem”

There’s this quote that I see from time to time on social media, it reads: “You date at the level of your self-esteem.”.  Every time I see it, it stops me in my tracks.  Last week, I saw it on a friend’s feed, and it hit me differently.  I felt it more...

Puberty…with a side of Autism

“Mom!” “Mom!” “Mommy!” “Mom!” “Mommmmmm!” “Yeah buddy, I am on a call, hold on second”. Then I heard the three words I wasn’t quite prepared for… “What is puberty?” Once I got off the call, I walked slowly into my...

Why the Return to Normal Has Me Feeling Melancholy

I am about to admit something that most people probably will not understand. I don’t want to go back to normal…the way life was.  We are now a year into this pandemic, 365+ days where nothing felt normal. Yet, I realized early on, that I have never felt more...

The Toxic Relationship I Didn’t Sign Up For

Back in my mid-thirties, I found myself living in LA, intertwined in a mentally abusive relationship with my then-boyfriend (which I wrote about in one of my earlier blogs on The Daily Feels).  It took me years to admit that I, this strong, independent, badass,...