I remember England.
The smell of green grass everywhere, the cool nip of British weather on my shoulders and in my hair, the English accents hard to decipher at first, but became my own after a year or two.
At age five, the sacrificial life of a missionary was thrust on me as my parents were called to the mission field of Stoke-On-Trent, England from Fort Worth, Texas.
But I did not see sacrifice. I was a child, an observer.
While my parents worked to example Christ to the generational Church of England-goers in Stoke, I experienced much hardship in…
I kept this all to myself…
The brutal honesty of what I felt, still feel, after being told I had breast cancer…a diagnosis that vacillated between Stages for three months before getting a final diagnosis.
It seemed (seems) like a means to an end.
I am not proud to admit I have imagined what it would feel like to not hurt so deeply every day over the torture my youngest son lives in with his heroin addiction. I fantasize about being in a place where I don’t carry that weight into my wake and sleep.
I fantasize how it would…
Addiction is messy, disorganized and dirty.
It is a subject still “blacklisted” as uncomfortable and repelling to many readers.
I realize writing about all its nuances is not attractive to most, but to the people terrorized by their addiction or someone else’s, the acknowledgement of its reality is an absolute must.
Heroin addiction is particularly dark because it involves the degrading act of injecting a chemical poison into one’s veins in the search for unreachable and permanent solace and relief of pain.
This is the reason my heart breaks for all addicts. It is the reason my heart breaks for…
Texans are wrought with concern over serious human issues in our state. Why doesn’t our governor share the same sentiment?
Texas Governor Greg Abbott delivered a State of the State address on Monday, February 1st, 2021.
What native Texas residents were reminded of in this address was the continuing stark distinction between what matters to most Texans and what matters to the Governor of Texas and his cronies.
After giving preliminary statements intended to create unification between Texas residents, business patrons, and political parties, Abbott continued with an informal run-down of items and topics he would be proposing for change…
Some thoughts for addicts in recovery to consider when tackling sobriety and parenting.
My son and his girlfriend have struggled with deep heroin addiction for more than five years now.
I am raising their son. Due to the multi-substance abuse during his prenatal months, he has 12 separate diagnoses and is special needs.
With my experience as a nurse and as the parent of addicts, I share today words of direction and encouragement to parents who are trying their best to raise a child during their recovery from a heroin or any other drug.
There was a time in my…
My Prior Personal and Professional Ignorance
Previous to my close and persistent involvement in a loved one’s personal experience with severe detox, I had only read about substance detoxification in nursing school and only heard snippets about its effects from past patients in my nursing career and on public forums.
I never saw my ex-husband, who finally passed away from his meth addiction in 2014, go through detox…nor did he ever talk about it, even when we were married. He was always gone doing drugs elsewhere.
I had no first-hand experience with it until our 17-year-old son became addicted to…
A woman, somewhere, needs this today.
I’m reading fellow Medium writers’ posts on Facebook and feel the familiar taunt of perceived failure rising in my chest.
Each author had the time today to think of an inspiring quote, to journal their accomplishments, or to just give advice on how to grow one’s writing career.
I would really love to call what I do at home a writing career…I would really love to actually write, undisturbed…even for an hour a day.
Instead, I have been home for most of the past month with my now-sick four-year-old grandson, Charlie, whom I am…
Disclaimer: This story is about addicts. It does not mean to wrongly imply in any way that every homeless person is an addict.*
Someone’s daughter is holding a sign up at the light. I cannot look directly at her, as the shame on her face is so loud. She looks years older than she is. Methamphetamines have sordidly robbed her of her integrity, her looks, her health…her humanity. As a nurse and a mother, I can detect that she is not even 25 years old. …
Is that Trump I hear in the background?
I am stumped to confer with the consensus
that he has won anything
but a resounding kick in the pants.
Hard to imagine a unified state
after what he has pulled…
hard to believe we are better off
now than when he walked in.
But, that’s what he’ll say.
Breaking free of a tyrant
proves stickier than just removing him.
His residue will linger
His hatred beleague Her
This country we once stood for at anthem.
Now no anthem rings truer
than the one seeking justice, truth and fairness
to the ones…
Nurse, writer: medical, family, addiction and wellness. See my blog flourishmedicinehealthandaddiction.com. Published Amazon author: Of Death and Brokenness…