Pondering Jen

I was sitting at the doctor’s office today getting the results of a sleep study. I have mild sleep disruption and I was given two treatment options; CPAP machine and weight loss. I looked the doctor and directly asked “is it proven that losing weight will in and of itself help my sleep apnea?” “Well”…

“She really let herself go.” How often do we hear people say this about women? Maybe her body shape is different than it used to be. Maybe she doesn’t get her hair cut regularly. Maybe she wears sweats and t-shirts now or doesn’t wear make-up anymore. Maybe it’s all of these. Maybe she has let…

Three nights ago I stopped sleeping. I had insomnia through high school, college, and early adulthood and having sleep come easily and fitfully for the last two decades is something I’ve been grateful for. So when sleep disappears it triggers panic. I’m sure you all know the drill; bed isn’t cozy. It doesn’t feel safe…

Whew. 2020 was something, wasn’t it? A year ago everything was going along as it always does. We stepped into the shoes that make our big right toe hurt every single time we wear them, threw the kids lunches together, and came home to get something somewhat nutritious into the mouths of our families for…

Here it comes; that not-so-wonderful time of year. Those post-holiday weeks when we are assaulted with messaging that we are not enough; not thin enough, strong enough, healthy enough, young enough… we are not enough of anything, except when we are too much. There is so much to deconstruct about why this advertising works so…

One year I was walking through HomeGoods, found a cute winter plate with a snowman on it and thought “this is so cute! I think the kids would really like this. But what will I do with it? Will I really use it or will it just be something else to fill our space?” On…

My God. Do you feel it? Do you feel something happening? What is it? It’s a shift like nothing we have experienced. I’m aetheist. I am not new-agey. I don’t buy into any of that bullshit. Except. Something is happening… and it feels like humanity. For the first time in history humans in every corner…

Being younger is awesome; so much hope and potential. Everything is still a possibility.  As we get older  responsibilities pile up. Some of us have kids. Some of us follow a passion. Some of us are kicking ass at our careers. Suddenly we look up to realize we are “midlife”. As we reflect, we think…

I was walking through Michael’s about five years ago and saw these mailboxes. They were  so cute! I loved the colors and how festive they felt. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them but I bought two- one for each of my kids, and brought them home. This started an unexpected…