Real Talk

November is the month in which most American families celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. A holiday full of warmth, family, friends, and an abundance of food. It’s supposed to have that proverbial table that’s long enough to seat everyone and make them feel invited. Dishes are passed around, willingly shared, as everyone lists the reasons for which they are grateful. A prayer is said to the heavens above and everyone eats until they are full. Sometimes, afterward, there is a gathering of football fans in front of the television set. In a perfect world, Uncle Roger doesn’t mention that the women who’ve cooked all day should also do the dishes and Aunt Edna squeezes you into a hug, listing some positive...

I work from home. And I am a mom. But it isn’t what you envision. Work from Home Moms (and dads for that matter) can be considered as "lucky" by others because people assume they’ve got an easy job that allows them to keep their kids at home and care for them while working. Insert big eye roll here. While there are some jobs that can be done from home while simultaneously caring for children, handling household tasks and basically momming ALL DAY, they are few and far between. I worked in a corporate office setting for 10+ years. When my husband accepted a new job 2 hours away from our corporate office, we moved, and I became a remote employee....

Pick up my phone. Open the Facebook app. Scroll. Like a photo. Scroll some more. Add a comment. Scroll and scroll and scroll some more. Open Instagram. Repeat... Sound familiar? Back in March, my husband brought my attention to an app called Digital Wellbeing. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the app but decided to install it and then promptly forgot about it. I would soon find out that the Digital Wellbeing app monitors all the stuff you do on your phone and gives you a breakdown of how much time you spend on each app. It needs some time to collect data, so it was probably best that I forgot about it. A few weeks (months?) later, my husband asked...

As soon as he got in the van, my son confessed that he got a mark at school (a note for having done something wrong). He mentioned that there was "kind of an interesting story" to go with it and proceeded to divulge that when his class was walking to lunch, he saw the teacher's lounge, usually very visible with glass walls, covered with paper from ceiling to floor. Overcome with curiosity about what could possibly hide behind the paper, he tried to pry a piece of the paper away from the wall to sneak a peek. When he did this, the duty teacher, someone otherwise unknown to him, told him not to look. Demonstrating his characteristic genuine, innocent,...

Job loss is scary. Job loss as a parent is terrifying (and a single parent at that). It’s been two months since I received “the call.” The call that attempted to force my resignation and ended with job termination. I’m not going to go into detail around everything mostly because lawyers are still working out details, and I’m in no position to compromise whatever settlement I might receive. But it’s un fun, as my 4.5 year old would say … Practically, though, what comes with job loss?! I mean, the obvious thing is loss of income, BUT that’s the least of my worries. Now, was I in a hugely stable financial place? Not exactly, but I’m not truly scared about...