When does a grown-up learn to express themselves in a manner acceptable to society? Imagine me, a 33-year-old, enters a coffee shop, and screams, “I WANT COFFEE.” I continue to shout, “I WANT COFFEE” for 15 minutes. Fellow coffee drinkers scoot further away from me, in case I am mentally insane. Others stare, mouth agape, ...

The photo above is of my daughter sleeping. Yes, she is half on the couch, half standing, and fully snoozing. I have several pictures of my little ones in surprising slumber stations. When they are in bed and I check in on them later in the night, I giggle because kids can doze like contortionists. ...

Hospitals are not always a fun place to be. Visitors liven the place up and make a sterile room more welcoming. As a bedside nurse with 10 years of experience, I witness a plethora of gifts for patients and see how presents elevate the spirit of the sick. Flowers are among the top choice for ...

“Five more minutes, kids,” I tell my four and six-year-old at the playground. “Aw, can we have an extra ten minutes?” asks the older sibling, Potato. “Sure,” I answer. “Ten is a lot of time,” Boobers, the younger one, exclaims excitedly. I let them continue to play for a while. Minutes tick away, and we ...

It is a challenge for patients in the hospital to connect with loved ones outside. When there is a sibling at home, the challenge is twofold. As a nurse with ten years of experience in the pediatric intensive care unit, I often see parents wanting to bring siblings to visit. Sometimes visits are feasible, other ...

The old man has always been there. There was never a time in my life when he didn’t show up. True, it was always according to his schedule. Time meant nothing to him. He would show up when he wanted to and leave when he jolly well pleased. No glances at the wall to check ...

There once was a free bird,Who loved to sing. There once was a happy bird,That loved to fly. There once was a content bird,Who loved to eat and drink of life. But a hunter came by,Who loved the bird’s beauty. He thought to himself,“I could only be happy with a bird like that”. So he ...

November, for me, usually involves the intense drive to finish a novel. This year I have no motivation even to open a word document. I tend to go through periods where I believe I can’t write and hate all of my characters. One solution I have is to completely start from scratch. I can start ...

It’s been a long year and a half since the pandemic hit our shores. There has been a lot of hand sanitizer under the bridge, making the time seem both elongated and truncated. Working from home turned into the new norm. Except, of course, for our front-line workers. Slowly, the rest of the workforce has ...

What do you do when you have nothing to say? The simple answer is, of course, don’t say anything. I have this issue where I want to cause the least amount of stress for everyone around me. The problem is I can’t do a lot of physical things, so I try to help out wherever ...