Columns

I’ve been through a lot with SMA, but in April, I faced something different. Early that month, my mom and I both tested positive for COVID-19, something we’d strived for years to avoid. It started with body aches the night before I tested positive. The next day,…

If I owned a calendar, its December through April would be stained with tears. The square where Dec. 16, 2023, lands would have angry-looking ink blotches on it — to represent how I felt on my 25th birthday. My ex-girlfriend and I broke up on that day. I cursed…

Today is my birthday, and it’s a big one. In fact, earlier this year, my heart palpitated a bit when it sank in just how big it is. By now, however, it seems minimally eventful. Sunday, of course, was Mother’s Day. I heard that morning from our daughter, Katie,…

I was all ready to skip this week’s column, convinced I had nothing to say and no energy with which to say it, when I realized something. I’m burned out. It crept up on me so quickly I barely had time to prepare. One moment I was crafting a…

In the 1987 science fiction spoof movie “Spaceballs,” Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is betrothed to Prince Valium (Jim J. Bullock), who dozes off constantly. He has chronic drowsiness, so much so that he yawns when Vespa flees their wedding ceremony in a runaway spaceship. When I first…

After closing the tab on my browser, I couldn’t help but wonder how much progress I’d made in the past year that I failed to notice. My words on the screen were there in plain sight, from a moment when life felt so different to me. It was hard…

In the stillness of my room, a voice says to me, “You should quit social media.” It’s not the first time I’ve heard this voice. But it’s the first I’ve given it any sort of consideration. It’s 4 a.m. and my brain is a pinball machine, bouncing between thoughts.

If you’ve perused my columns in the past, you’ll know I’m a big advocate for teaching children about disabilities. As a woman in a wheelchair who looks different from the average person, I’ve been the subject of glaring stares, mind-boggling comments, and the occasional finger-pointing from children.

One of my favorite discoveries during my family’s recent vacation on St. Simons Island was the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on neighboring Jekyll Island. The center rehabilitates sea turtles and local wildlife in need of medical care so they can be released back into their…

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” I don’t know if this adage has retained its clout from my early school days, but surely it’s still familiar. It came in handy — sorta — when I was in elementary school. During a routine…