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I walked into the lobby and pushed the arrow for the elevator. The metal doors slid open and a black man was standing inside. He had baggy pants on, dreads and a flat-billed baseball hat.  Eyes wide, I quickly scanned the situation.  Is he grabbing his waist band? Does he have drugs on him? What about a gun? Or a knife? What’s he holding in his hand? Do I want to be stuck in an elevator with this man? My mind raced. My heart nearly thumped out of my chest. As the metal doors

Alright friends, buckle up because I’m going to give this to you straight with no chaser (I’ve always wanted to say that). Co-parenting is tricky business, with or without a pandemic. There’s constant shuffling of children from one house to the next all while trying not to unintentionally step on a landmine filled with your ex-partner’s feelings. The ugly truth of the matter about this COVID co-parenting is no one knows what they’re doing. There, I said it. Now we can all rel

Dear School Districts, I’m writing to let you know that some students’ failure to complete work is not about access, it’s about disruption and anxiety about the future. Some students have parents that are still working who do not have the time or energy to then teach their child lessons that are to be learned at school. While some students may do well with online learning, others do not. As the teachers know, because they’re in the classroom with these children, all students

Dear Random Lady at the YMCA, You eyed my baby from the moment we stepped out of the locker room entering the pool area. You were swimming laps and smiled at my son, mouthing the words “he’s so cute.” I naively thought this would be the end of our encounter. I was wrong. Shortly after my middle boy eased his way into the cold pool, and the baby and I settled on the bench to watch him practice; you approached with a smile. I obviously smiled back, but you had something else in

Sister, I am with you. I, too, am a nomad. I suppose I started becoming a nomad before I knew that I was one. I grew up mostly in Pittsburgh, but we moved around several times throughout the city and then to Missouri, and back to Pittsburgh. I hated it. I swore that I would never do that if I ever had kids. I had big plans of buying a house in a small town and staying there until I died. Then, I solidified that notion by marrying someone in the military. It made complete sens

I’m tired. I’m tired all the time. The only time I have energy is after my morning coffee has kicked in, and even then it’s only for about four hours. I suffer from what many moms suffer from, the superwoman syndrome that has plagued society for the past 20-30 years. We come from a generation where it was drilled in our heads that we women could literally do anything and everything. Maybe our parents had good intentions with these ‘I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar’ speeches, but the

My ex-husband and I co-parent very well, and have since our separation and subsequent divorce. This isn’t to say that we didn’t have tense moments, hurt feelings, and hard heads. The difference is that we didn’t let any of these personal issues interfere with our parenting or access to the children. Parenting is hard. Being a single parent is harder. Being a single parent while you’re bitter or in the middle of an ugly custody battle with no end in sight is probably hardest o

Help. Me. Help me, please! It has been a while since I’ve had to negotiate with a tiny chubby faced terrorist, but I can assure you they have evolved their tactics over the past 10 years. I was lulled into a false sense of security thinking I had won the battle of sleep training. Insert uncontrollable, but maniacal baby laughter while he rubs his dimpled little hands together. A few weeks ago I wrote about the struggles of sleep training, but relishing in the fact that I only