My 20-year-old daughter had her tonsils out last Monday — because she stops breathing like 90 times a night and the resulting exhaustion has pretty much interrupted and postponed her young life. Getting her tonsils out is supposed to help. Did you know they don’t put people in the hospital…

Last night, I dreamed I was running a marathon where there were no signs on the course. I kept trying to figure out where I was meant to go but sometimes, I would have to backtrack and take another direction. I did not want to win, I just wanted to…

I blame granite countertops for the reason we Generation X Karens are bitter. If we had had nicer countertops when we had our first apartments like our Millenial children, we would be in much better moods. My first apartment of my own had the crappy countertops with the metal edges…

I drove by the post office the other day and there was a gigantic sign over the front door that said, “Heroes Work Here.” At first I was like “What?” But then I thought about it. Who worked during that time and delivered all those packages from Amazon (Amazon employees…

Backwoods East Tennessee would not seem a factory for producing food snobs, yet here I am. I invariably pick tomatoes off restaurant sandwiches or salads because I know what a warm ripe tomato tastes like, fresh from the garden. And I have never had that from any commercial source. I…

We have been anxious for years and we have prepared ourselves. Who knew that the work you put into learning self-love and how to breathe through panic attacks would come in so damn useful during a global pandemic?!?! I mean, we already had a head start on the rest of…

We are hammered every day about our differences especially when it comes to politics. Depending on whom you ask, President “So-and-so” ruined this country. I think we’ve all been guilty of that conversation. …

As a child, I learned the Golden Rule at church and at home. I’m a Christian and we are commanded to “do to others what you would have them do to you,” not just in somethings but in EVERYTHING. In Matthew 7:12, we are commanded to do this by none…

I went through sixteen years of school, one year of law school, birthed and raised three children and helped them navigate the stressful admission process into great schools and filled out the FAFSA financial aid form nine times — so far. I successfully re-entered the work force after 17 years of being a stay at home mom who did not know what Outlook was. I made it through a difficult divorce without a trip to the mental hospital and learned how to be a landlord. I’ve been a single mom for eight years. All these things are hard, people. But none of this, none of it prepared me for the hardest thing I’ve ever faced — dealing with the US health care system and trying to secure good care for my mother. Hands down, this has sucked the most. And it has baffled me more than anything I have ever experienced.