This piece is part of The Pain Diaries series. My earliest memory of pain is a headache. But not the pain of the headache. It’s the St. Joseph baby aspirin with the toy soldier on the box. Mom said my headaches started in kindergarten. At the young age of five, school was punishment and I never
This summer, I hit a point in my marathon training
Originally published on Medium Growing up, my dad liked to
“Writing and running are dual pursuits that enable the illusion of control, a way of ordering the world through carefully crafted sentences and mile splits.” I didn’t write that sentence, but I easily could have;
Every evening after work, my dad took himself to the high school track to run. He’d run seven laps and walk the last one, for a total of two miles. My dad is a creature
Faith noun: complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Those of you who’ve been reading Leah’s Thoughts for the last several years know that I don’t choose the word that defines my year in
Originally published on Medium “When was the last time you had professional photos taken of yourself that weren’t headshots?” This was the question Samantha asked me as we neared the end of my boudoir photo
Originally published on Medium Being a freelance writer, I’m often called upon when people need help with words. Cover letters, website content, school efficacy reports, fundraising appeals … I’ve written them all and helped various clients
On November 6, I turned 45. In December, Leah’s Thoughts will be 11 years old. That means I’ve been writing this blog since I was 34! That’s crazy to me, and to think about my
Originally published on Medium Sometimes, I’ll read a piece of writing that hits me on a visceral level. I know this because I won’t even be finished with the piece and I’ve found myself pulling
Originally published on Medium Not long after my ex-husband and I filed for divorce, I was sharing the news of the end of my marriage with a friend. She was married and a mother as
This is not your typical back-to-school blog post. In September 1987, I started my seventh grade year in middle school. My biggest worry was whether I’d be able to handle being placed in GATE classes
When I started this blog, Sophie was a mere 2-years-old. I wrote about all those new milestone moments of motherhood, like going from the crib to a toddler bed, saying goodbye to the baby monitors,
This piece is part of The Pain Diaries series. My earliest memory of pain is a headache. But not the pain of the headache. It’s the St. Joseph baby aspirin with the toy soldier on the box. Mom said my headaches started in kindergarten. At the young age of five, school was punishment and I never
This summer, I hit a point in my marathon training where I had a sharp pain on the outside of my left knee. At one point, the pain was so sharp that I couldn’t get beyond three miles and I panicked. How can I run 26 miles if I can’t even finish three? What if
Originally published on Medium “Have you gone on any dates? Are you seeing anyone? Have you tried meeting people?” These are the questions I’m asked more frequently than not. “I’m just not in a place where I want that right now. And I don’t like dating apps,” I reply. “But that’s how it’s done now!
Sometimes a writing idea will come to me in minutes and I’ll feverishly draft the entire thing in the Notes app of my phone. Other times, it takes months for the idea to come to fruition. Or it starts as one thing and morphs into something else. This post is an example of a piece
Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a bit know that I’m a huge “West Wing” and Aaron Sorkin fan. One of my favorite episodes is the season four opener, “20 Hours in America.” The episode begins with President Bartlett giving a campaign speech at an Indiana farm. After being left behind by
Originally published on Medium “Have you gone on any dates? Are you seeing anyone? Have you tried meeting people?” These are the questions I’m asked more frequently than not. “I’m just not in a place where I want that right now. And I don’t like dating apps,” I reply. “But that’s how it’s done now!
Originally published on Medium Growing up, my dad liked to play the “What if?” game. In an attempt to get at the root cause of whatever mood was irking at me on a particular day, dad played amateur psychologist with those two words. “What if your friend responded differently to what you said? … What
“Writing and running are dual pursuits that enable the illusion of control, a way of ordering the world through carefully crafted sentences and mile splits.” I didn’t write that sentence, but I easily could have; because I share those exact sentiments. Those words were written by Jaclyn Gilbert in an essay entitled “The Need for
Every evening after work, my dad took himself to the high school track to run. He’d run seven laps and walk the last one, for a total of two miles. My dad is a creature of habit. He has the same daily routine, eats the same meals, watches the same news each and every night.
Originally published on Medium “Have you gone on any dates? Are you seeing anyone? Have you tried meeting people?” These are the questions I’m asked more frequently than not. “I’m just not in a place where I want that right now. And I don’t like dating apps,” I reply. “But that’s how it’s done now!
Originally published on Medium Growing up, my dad liked to play the “What if?” game. In an attempt to get at the root cause of whatever mood was irking at me on a particular day, dad played amateur psychologist with those two words. “What if your friend responded differently to what you said? … What
This is not your typical back-to-school blog post. In September 1987, I started my seventh grade year in middle school. My biggest worry was whether I’d be able to handle being placed in GATE classes (gifted and talented education, GT, advanced classes, as they’re called). Spoiler alert: I did well in nearly all the subjects;
When I started this blog, Sophie was a mere 2-years-old. I wrote about all those new milestone moments of motherhood, like going from the crib to a toddler bed, saying goodbye to the baby monitors, birthday celebrations, first days of school, how I got her to stop sucking her thumb, struggles with shoe shopping, her
This piece is part of The Pain Diaries series. My earliest memory of pain is a headache. But not the pain of the headache. It’s the St. Joseph baby aspirin with the toy soldier on the box. Mom said my headaches started in kindergarten. At the young age of five, school was punishment and I never
This summer, I hit a point in my marathon training where I had a sharp pain on the outside of my left knee. At one point, the pain was so sharp that I couldn’t get beyond three miles and I panicked. How can I run 26 miles if I can’t even finish three? What if
