The beginning of one mother’s journey as her son came out as transgender. My son is twenty-three this year. Five years ago, at the age of seventeen, he came out as transgender. It was on a rainy, Northwest day my teenage child, then known as my oldest daughter, drove off in the old Toyota. A... Continue Reading →
Going Wild at Cafe Wylde
P stands for Plant-based Plant-based. What is it? “We offer local, vegan, and organic food straight from the earth”, reads the sign of Café Wylde in Everett, WA. It is a late February day and uncommonly dry for the Pacific Northwest. I stand on the sidewalk and wait for my friend to arrive for our... Continue Reading →
Self-Love and Body Curves
Looking in the mirror and being happy in my own skin It started young, hating my body. Typically, I could be found with my nose in a book rather than kicking a ball on a soccer field. In fact, often I was the last one picked for a sports team at school. There was one... Continue Reading →
The End of the World as We Know It
And do I feel fine? It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. So goes the lyric from the alternative rock band, REM’s song by the same name. This song hit the music charts in 1987 with it’s frenetic, fast-paced syncopated lyrics referencing everything from Soviet ruler Leonid Brezhnev to biblical rapture to... Continue Reading →
Six Degrees From the Stonewall Riots
A look back at the inception of PRIDE to see the way forward Right now, most of us concur we are living through times of uncertainty and civil unrest. A global pandemic with a rising death toll, riots, demonstrations, police brutality, the sinking economy, and the list goes on. But it’s not the first time... Continue Reading →
Today, I Would Rather Pull the Covers Over My Head
How to move forward when your heart is not in it Today I would rather pull the covers over my head and wait out my funk. I don’t know why I woke up feeling this way. There is no clear-cut reason to point at and say, That, that is the cause of my gloom, my... Continue Reading →
Exploring Deception Pass – The Bowman Bay/Rosario Beach Trail
Photo by Deception Pass Bridge; by Author One of the more accessible hikes and a favorite of mine is the Bowman Bay/Rosario Beach Trail. This is where we headed on a beautiful spring afternoon with water bottles in our backpacks and a picnic lunch packed for our return. Heading west, we followed Hwy 20 until... Continue Reading →
Re-opening My Massage Practice During the Pandemic
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash Two weeks back to work and how life is now. A fair amount of my focus over the past two weeks has been spent on sending out new Covid-19 questionnaires to screen clients in my private practice and explaining the new protocols to them. There are temperature checks to take before they... Continue Reading →
Wild, Wet, and Beautiful
A Northwest Getaway Tiny droplets of ocean spray hit my face as I turn into the wind. I am bundled upwarmly from head to toe; knit hat, quilted jacket, gloves, and warm socks inside myshiny red rubber boots.The sun is at a quarter slant in the sky, for it has been up for hours. But... Continue Reading →
Memories of My Dad this Father’s Day
A real-life Archie Bunker or was he? Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash For those of you old enough to remember Archie Bunker, the quintessential cantankerous character of the ‘70’s show All In The Family, then you will understand my father. Or at least a side of him. But he was not all cantankerous, my dad.... Continue Reading →