And family preservation is a moral obligation Strap in for the Mother’s Day essay you didn’t see coming. Be prepared to get angry with me. It’s fine. I’m used to it. Just maybe sit with this for a while and read the sources, ok? When I started seriously interrogating my…

An adoptee’s reentry does not guarantee safe landing I was 39-years-old, staring at my father’s face for the first time in my life. To be precise, it was the second time, but I have no conscious recollection of the first. I saw him the day I was born, as he…

Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to take up space Except, I didn’t want to take up space. I wanted to shrink myself small enough to fit into the emerald tutu. I wanted each sinewy line of every muscle to poke through paper thin skin as I pirouetted…

An eighth of a teaspoon

Reflections from an adoptee on the complex emotions in animal rescue work and adoption It’s the same thing each time I arrive at the shelter. My hand touches the cool metal gate on the chain-link fence and as soon as it clinks and clanks open then shut, I hear the…

Honoring myself during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week Five pounds was the goal To dance that part To fit into that tutu With the sparkling rhinestones Five pounds was the stick Ms. Martha used to slap my tummy Telling me I looked pregnant While I did rond de jambe en…

A eulogy for the both of us All day, my stomach did somersaults. I couldn’t even go for a jog because my intestines would not allow it. …

Being a child prodigy is not all fun and games. Neither is being an adoptee. **Spoiler alerts for those who have not seen the series** After watching the Netflix drama mini-series, The Queen’s Gambit, I was struck by so much. The set design, the makeup and costumes, the characters, and…

It’s not a mid-life crisis. I’m just turning 40 and talking to plush toys. Significant milestones tend to dredge up memories and emotions. Although turning 40 is not as momentous as some of the other events humans celebrate, it has always been a much anticipated day for me. As a…