Due to our family’s limited resources, we rarely got new board games to play.  What we did have came from garage sales and thrift stores.  The odds of…

1972 was a pivotal year for me as we left Milwaukee and moved to a very rural area outside of Mukwonago. I started a new school at the…

Persistent sadness clung to me  like my shadow, I could not shake thrown into a deep well from which  I could see  blue sky but could not obtain…

This is a love letter to little me.   To the kid who was always scared and lost and alone:  I’m sorry there was no reassurance when you…

School was a field of landmines for me. Some of the things that held me back were misunderstood and undiagnosed in the 1970’s.  A teeny Catholic school where…

About this piece: Dysthymia, also known as dysthymic disorder, is a type of affective disorder that often resembles a less severe, yet more chronic form of major depression. The…

Having dinner at grandpa’s every Sunday was extended family tradition. While the women prepared dinner in the kitchen, and the men smoked cigars and ribbed each other in…

This piece is the corner stone of my series.  To me, it calls across a stormy childhood and lights a path of resilience and compassion.  My heart is…