Blog

mostly personal anecdotes where I sometimes try to be humorous

(maybe not always, Not everytime, but sometimes)

  • Random Thoughts in July

    One of the essential ingredients when writing posts based solely on personal anecdotes is that you really must have personal anecdotes in order to write. That’s not me – not now. It turns out that spending 1/3 of your year inside your home with very limited human contact means you just aren’t out generating the…

  • The Hippo Menace and Other Thoughts

    I think all of us have that friend/family member who, in a social gathering (you remember those, right? The idea hearkens back to an innocent time where people would leave their homes and come together in groups greater than six – a time when we naively referred to our friends as “friends” instead of “vectors,”…

  • Welcome to Holland

    Since early January I’ve been meaning to write a post about personal journeys and my own personal journey as I face all of the anniversaries related to Jay and our life together. For me, Spring kicks off a lengthy emotional roller coaster ride that pulls off some upside down loops as it careens through Summer,…

  • A Letter

    For those of you who’ve followed the Big Blue Mess since the beginning (you loyal two), you know/understand/recognize that my posts are merely letters. This is how I write. This is how I speak. And you’ve been around long enough that you are very familiar with this particular origin story – the tale of blame…

  • Dating in Your 50’s

    I’ve been at a complete loss when it comes to ideas for posts recently, and I finally reached out to a good friend. “What should I write about?” She immediately came back with, “dating in your 50’s.” While I have a ton to say on the matter in personal emails or over a margarita, I’ve…

  • Mosaic

    This past year I joined a Facebook group for spouses/partners who’ve lost a loved one to suicide. While I have this incredibly supportive network of family and friends who are always there for me, our loss is different. They lost a beloved son, a son-in-law, a brother, an uncle, or a friend. In a lot…

  • New Things: The Final Edition

    I have another post in mind, but I find I’m a bit stuck as I churn over the “hows” of what I want to post. I’ve poked it, prodded it, written it a dozen different ways in my head, and now I’m going to let it marinate a bit then maybe have another go at…

  • The Way I Was Raised: Idea Fairies

    Co-worker: Beth, did you plan a White Elephant Gift Exchange? Beth: No, I didn’t. However, if you’d like to plan one feel free to do so! Co-worker (actual quote from email): Couldn’t remember if we were doing it…maybe next year you can plan it 🙂 (The smiley face at the end is truly one of…

  • The Way I Was Raised: Accepting “No”

    It would be easy to dive into the importance of saying, “Thank You” to kick off the modern manners posts. I mean, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner, and it’s a great time to remind people to polish off their gratitude, but I hate easy. Instead, let’s talk about “no”. Thanks to so…

  • Thank You from The Jay Walkers

  • A November Promise?

    If you felt I was a bit pushy with my fundraising efforts for the Out of the Darkness walk here on The Big Blue Mess, well then we’re probably not friends on Facebook. This is not a bad thing. I hammered those guys – friends, family, former co-workers, improv classmates. If you once dared to…

  • The Way I Was Raised: An Idea!

    Introductory post to a new blog feature about manners in a modern age.

  • We’re Nearly There: The Importance of Community

    My grandfather died when I was 16 years old. I have no real memory of him – no endearing stories of “the time when Grandpa and I…” I’ve heard I once sat next to him on a piano bench, and that he was very sweet to me, his only grandchild at the time, while I…

  • September’s New Things

    That time I tried some more new things in September, and I gave my friends a reprieve from fundraising (almost).

  • I Won’t Be Silent

    Fundraiser: Support The Jay Walkers for the AFSP Out of the Darkness Walk

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