Part Three: The help of a higher power — Despite months of trying, I was no closer to my goal of bringing my daughter, Victoria, back home to live with me. She had been staying with her Aunt Rebecca for close to ten months, and I had neither the finances nor the mental stability to get her back. Sometimes…

Part Two: The ‘We Love Victoria‘ Celebration — Six months had passed since I’d seen my baby girl. I thought about Victoria every day, but I hesitated to call because I’d have to deal with Rebecca, the aunt who had taken my daughter during my mental health crisis. …

Part One: Sometimes love can’t be enough — Victoria was only supposed to stay with Micah’s sister in Orlando for a few weeks while I got my life “straightened out.” …

The journey from pain to peace — When my ex-husband, Micah, died in an accident, I had so many different feelings about it with no words to describe them. Sad to say, the first of these was relief. No longer could he stalk me and use our daughter as a pawn even though our relationship had died…

My Journey From Rock Bottom To Recovery — It took me about two weeks to realize I had moved in with a Mama’s Boy. Dennis and I met in AA. It was something they called the thirteenth step, dating people you meet in recovery, which was frowned upon in the rooms. Nevertheless, I dated Dennis for a few…

A tale of getting older — This morning, when I was getting some medication out of a bottle, I happened to look down at my hands for no reason. Putting the pills aside, I splayed my fingers on both hands and began to study them harshly. …

Sometimes we aren’t ready to smile just yet — I gave birth to my first child when I was 29 years old, but I was nervous about the delivery long before that. Whenever I would ask other women about what it was like, their eyes would glaze over as they proclaimed it to be the best day of their…

The years I was nothing without my husband — My first husband and I went to marriage counseling after his affair. I showed up crying and still in shock that he cheated. He didn’t sit on the couch with me and instead took a chair directly across the room. It looked like he would rather have been anywhere else. …

Come say hello to me on Medium Day — The rumors are true. I’m going to be one of the speakers on Medium Day. To quote the author, Glennon Doyle, I feel “scited” about it, which is a stomach-churning combination of scared and excited. Can the world’s most introverted person be outgoing and informative for 30 minutes? …