When I imagined sharing updates on the body hair situation I fully expected those updates would be negative experiences. Any and all updates. It did not occur to me that I would have anything positive to share. Maybe some success of my own making; my own progress or work or breakthroughs. But positive reactions from…
Category: Physical Wellness
Losers Having Huge Fun
I haven’t followed up on the tennis lessons because there haven’t been many. We keep getting rained out. After three weeks of rain we finally got a dry lesson night this week and were able to resume. To make up for the lost weeks we decided to extend the duration of the remaining lessons until…
A Wonderland Of Rules To Break
Tennis lesson No. 1 was fun and no one said a word about my hairy legs. I mean, I didn’t overhear any words about my body hair. It probably helped that the other women in the group didn’t know each other. Sometimes it takes a while for such things to develop among strangers. We also…
Harsh Language For A Harsh Reality
Every time you discuss my appearance you violate me. The fact that you can see my body doesn’t make my body public domain. Has no one ever told you this? I used to believe the opposite; that I had to submit to public criticism and public feedback about my body simply because it was visible…
Love Without Asterisks
Today I am struggling with the version of self-love in which a woman posts a photo of herself in a bikini with a long caption claiming fierce love for her image IN SPITE of x, y, z. And x, y, z, is always provided. These are the reasons her body looks this way: pregnancies, surgeries,…
Buzz Lightyear Burgers
I grew up eating free or reduced cafeteria lunches in public schools. Twelve years. It was embarrassing to be the poor kid using a lunch ticket instead of money to pay for my lunch. It was humiliating to have to march up to a teacher’s desk in front of the entire class to receive my…
Solar Cell Romance
Let me love you by planting mint behind the rosemary, where it will be protected and continue hardy green production well into December and January. And I will put lights in the garden so I can find it when you want tea anytime, even after the sun goes down. I will romance you in the…
Yield Is Actually Seven Syllables
Sometimes I feel like I need to hammer out a post in a certain category just because I haven’t written actively in that category for a while. Yoga, for example. But one of the coolest things about yoga is that all wellness-related living is yoga. You’ve surely heard or read by now there are eight…
Dirty Tricks In A Sterile Environment
I have pain today. All the way to the bone. This a photo of my pain, localized in one place in my body but deep below the surface, under tissue and structure. Radiant pain. Not really. I mean, the pain is real but I took this photo a few days ago, before I knew how…
A Square Deal in Seven Scenes
Setting: Exam room of fancy medical office in fancy city. Patient Mercy has just been examined, diagnosed, and received a treatment recommendation from Doctor. Patient Mercy has agreed to receive the treatment. Mercy sits in chair staring at X-rays. Scene One: Doctor exits exam room, Admin Lady comes in. Admin Lady: We checked your insurance….
Full Frontal Wellness
I’ve written before about how the different aspects of our wellness are interconnected and interdependent. Each aspect of wellness affects all the others. When one aspect suffers, all are affected. When one thrives, all are affected. The most obvious example is the way physical wellness affects emotional wellness. Physical wellness also affects all the other…
Running In The River Not Running
I just remembered I did not post a Work Release post for June. I’ll just have to let it go. Not that I haven’t been working, of course. I’ll give you instead some things I’ve been working on this week. This is part of a mural near the farmer’s market in Mercyburg. I remember when…
The Renaissance Heart 