Welcome to the Jungle

However you got here – hello. Pull up a chair. You’re going to want to stay a while.

This is a personal essay blog about the unglamorous reality of my life – the messy family dynamics, the aftermath of a bad marriage, the indignity of navigating your 40s without a manual, and the occasional deeply important opinion about television and movies.

If you’ve ever wanted to read something that sounds like your unfiltered friend, you’re in the right place.

Before You Go Any Further • Meet the Cast

This blog has been running long enough to have recurring characters.

Mr. Horrible

The ex-husband. The reason the Divorced Now What category exists. His greatest contributions to my life are my children and approximately 300,000 words of content.

→ Start here: You Don’t Get To String Me Along

La Llorona

My mother. A narcissist of considerable talent and ambition. Unlike my father, she is very much still present in my life, which is its own ongoing adventure in boundary-setting and suppressed rage. The Rotting Roots category is largely her fault.

→ Start here: My Narcissist Mother Vs Army Of Me

My Father (a.k.a. The Absent One)

Haven’t spoken to him in 20+ years. That was my call. I’ve written about it once. It says everything that needs to be said.

→ Start here: This Is For My Absent Father

My Brother

One brother. We share DNA and very little else in terms of patience for each other. He features in many a rant. Think of him as a supporting character who somehow keeps getting more screen time.

→ Start here: 10 Reasons I Hate Riding in a Car With My Brother

He Who Shall Not Be Named

My stepson. He died. I write about him because writing is how I process things, and he deserves to be more than silence. He shows up in the The Mother Hood category, and occasionally in others when grief decides it’s done waiting its turn.

→ Start here: He Who Shall Not Be Named Also Known As: The Son Who Died

My Kids

Present. Loved. You’ll know they exist. They’re at the heart of almost everything I write about. They might be adults now, but they don’t need to be called out. Referred to as CR & MK in some posts.

Where to Start Reading • Choose Your Own Adventure

Not sure where to dive in? Pick a theme:

🔥 Here for the family dysfunction?
Start with the Rotting Roots category – it’s where I work through the complicated truth of growing up with a narcissistic mother and an absent father. It’s not always pretty, but it’s always honest.

→ Rotting Roots

💔 Here for the divorce content?
Welcome. You’ve either been through it, are going through it, or you’re here as a cautionary tale kind of viewer. The Divorced Now What category is the full saga – from the marriage itself through the messy years after.

→ Divorced Now What
→ A good starting point: When You Remember the Time – No Shit Sherlock Award

→ The full arc in two posts: Happy Divorce! (year one) and 10 Years a Divorcee (year ten)

😤 Here because midlife is a lot, and you wanna be angry about it?
The Midlife Musings category is for everything else – work people who make your blood boil, the indignities of your changing body, movies, music, and general observations about what it means to be a fortysomething woman who has run completely out of tolerance.

→ Midlife Musings
→ Start here if you want to laugh first: Sex Sex Sex – A MasterClass in Getting None

📺 Here because you like pop culture posts?
Glad you’re here. Stick around – the TV and movie opinions are just the gateway drug. Movie Musings has you covered, but the personal stuff is better.

→ 5 Things I Noticed While Watching The Mandalorian

Still not sure? Start with the greatest hits.

These are the posts that readers come back to, a good introduction to how this whole thing works:

🎯 Or start at the very beginning.

Every blog has a first post. This one started with a fat orange cat escaping at 11pm, a broom jammed in a door, and a woman in her pajamas chasing it around the neighbor’s yard. Nineteen years and 320+ posts later, here we are.

→ About a cat… (April 2007 — Post #1)

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