What to Do with Sadness

Baby Steele came into the world last week. And while I wish I could tell you that my exhaustion is from long nights of tending to a newborn, it’s not. My early pregnancy symptoms were waning in the weeks leading up to what should have been a nine week ultrasound. We were supposed to hear […]

To The 11-Year-Old Who Called Me Fat

Last week I sat in my parents’ home in Florida and thumbed through the box of journals I’ve kept since I was ten. Soon enough, I came across an entry from when I was 11. I wrote that I hated my body and how I wished I was skinnier, like the other girls in my […]

I’ve Been Going Blind

A month ago I came home from work with the anticipation of a migraine. The vision in my left eye had been blurry for the last several hours, so I knew it would happen at any moment. I lay down to take a nap, figuring it was due to a lack of sleep. But the […]

Sometimes All It Takes Is a Peach

I woke up last Tuesday night to the sound of people on my roof. Well at least, that’s what it sounded like. I rolled over and curled up next to my husband, hoping the noise would stop. But it continued, and I soon realized it was hail and not the local high-school drumline. Living in […]

We Need You.

I love Colorado summers. Their evenings welcome you to fire up the grill in the absence of humidity and bugs. Summer is when mountains whisper sweet nothings to valleys and promise the gift of water as snow melts from their peaks. It’s when everything green and beautiful wake up and realize they need sunshine, so […]

Busyness: The Ultimate Clown Act

“You can tell you’re a writer when you ask questions,” she said to me in the next chair over. A writer? Yikes. I haven’t called myself that in over a year. And the longer I’ve stayed away, the easier it is for me to keep it that way. This keyboard scares me. I’ll always find […]

What Hurts

Last night I found a drafted post of mine from over a year ago titled, “What Hurts.” I quoted Earnest Hemingway and then talked about being homesick and feeling broken as I lived in Glacier. I said that I felt weighty, that I was crying under my duvet, that “I didn’t realize my decision […]

What I Found in Glacier.

Curled into my down comforter, the box fan in my window is blasting crisp fall air into the room. The contrast of welcoming warmth and biting breeze could not be more perceptible. Autumn is here in Montana, and we seasonal workers are stirring to move on to our new winter homes. Sentimentalism mixes with the […]

What I Found in Glacier.

Four Reasons You Should Work in a National Park

What do you have in your backyard? Mine includes the Continental Triple Divide, twenty-five glaciers, a multitude of bears and moose and goats, an enormous see-through lake, and the US/Canadian border. Needless to say, my weekends are packed with hiking and camping and skimming rocks from the beach. It’s been a year since I picked […]