A month after my son Charlie was born, the doctors diagnosed him with periventricular leukomalacia. This is a very long term for damage in all four quadrants of the brain. It did not show up until his second head scan in the neonatal intensive care.   My first reaction was to flee, literally. I left… Continue reading Music is a Love Language

Not too long ago I woke up at 3:55 a.m. to catch a flight to Washington, D.C. where I was asked to give a keynote speech. The subject of the conference was “Fighting for Change.” For this one long weekend, thousands of people gathered to talk about what it takes to make democracy work.  … Continue reading How to Fight if You’re Not a Fighter

Perfectionism looks productive. It wears high heels, carries a color-coded planner, and whispers, “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” What’s really underneath that polished front? It’s procrastination dressed up to look respectable. If you live with ADHD, or have a brain that sees everything at once, then perfectionism is right there making… Continue reading Piles of Good Intentions

Many parents think of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as the child who can’t sit still, forgets homework, or gets in trouble for talking too much. But there’s another group of children we don’t talk about enough. They get good grades, they follow the rules and they seem responsible or even mature.  Yet inside their internal… Continue reading What Does High-Functioning Anxiety in Kids with ADHD Look Like?

We are inching our way closer to springtime, but the weather is still deep winter with freezing roads, gusting winds, and brewing illness. This is the season for sickness. If you are immunocompromised or caring for someone who is, I do not need to tell you this. There is not enough hand sanitizer in the… Continue reading What Real Respite Care Looks Like

When you think about it, we have no difficulty creating a long list of resolutions. We know exactly what we want to change, improve, or leave behind. We can clearly picture the outcome we’re aiming for. The challenge doesn’t lie in desire or even motivation but rather in the space between intention and execution. The… Continue reading From Resolution to Reality

When I met my husband, we were young twentysomethings. I had just gotten a master’s degree in education and begun teaching high school English. He was working in tech doing environmental mapping, but to his mother’s chagrin, he had still not finished his master’s thesis. It dragged on and on, the pressures of real life… Continue reading A Do-Not List to Get You Through Winter

I know it’s the end of January, but I needed this month to sit with this idea about new year’s resolutions and why the beginning of the year is such a marker for change. I find it frustrating that the January 1st date feels pressured to me in the days leading up to it and… Continue reading Why We Make New Year’s Resolutions (and Why We Don’t Need January 1st to Make Changes)

I was recently on a very chilly, very early morning walk with my hood up and AirPods in listening to an interview with a woman who has recently gone into remission from cancer. In sharing her diagnosis and subsequent treatment, she also added that this was what made her finally quit drinking. She half-laughed and… Continue reading The Downside of the Upside