“Am I even cut out for this?” My bestie Alycia was nearing her licensure test. She graduated with a Masters in Social Work a while ago, but in order to practice clinically, she needed to be licensed in her state. I thought of everything I know about this woman, how she’s been doing this work …
Author Archives: robininalaska
jet lag, rest, and being human
Last week was spent off-grid in a town outside Boston. I have thoughts about the time spent at L’Abri, but they haven’t coalesced into anything that makes sense yet. (I think last year’s visit took multiple months, and this year’s study was much less focused than last, so we’ll see.) For now, all I have …
courage: do it scared
Last year, my word was “small.” After the tremendous mess that 2018 was with adrenal fatigue and a mental health crisis-bordering-on-emergency that bled into the beginning of the year, I needed to focus on doing the tiny thing in front of me. Basically the only goals I had were little habits: Sleep. Move. Find silence. …
2019: what worked and what didn’t
I’ve been trying hard to take time to slow down and look back instead of plowing forward into 2020’s new stuff AND THERE IS PLENTY OF THAT. So, because this blog is sort of my personal record of all the things, let’s look at it together, shall we? What didn’t work We’ll start with the …
my favorite books of 2019
Hey! So every year, I put together a list of my favorite books of the year, and it’s fun to look back through and remember what I’ve read. It’s… a lot. I don’t say it to brag or humblebrag or anything else. I read eighty books last year, which is a record by a long …
paint-speckled mother (a Kindred Mom guest post)
Hey! I have this piece up on Kindred Mom today! Remember that time at the end of October when I made some bad decisions and opted to paint my kitchen after approximately zero minutes of deliberation? Well, there’s an update. You can read the whole thing here, or read on for a teaser. I have …
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ten year challenge
January 2010 I’m 27. I’ve been out of the pharmacy for almost a year, subbing for the school district and working for an eye clinic doing reception and data entry. We’ve recently moved upstairs from the tiny apartment we lived in all our married life into the house Andrew’s dad and his family recently vacated. …
Jenna turns nine
Hey, sweet girl! Happy birthday to you! …but I actually want to talk about something that happened on your most recent UNbirthday. You and I both hit a milestone yesterday. (Weirdly, your last birthday post was also about an unconventional milestone.) Well, I hit a milestone. You probably care less about hitting the milestone, because …
the first birth
When I say “first birth” I mean excluding mine. This morning, I had Plans. With a capital P. My birth-photographer-turned-friend-turned-photography-mentor Sarah had a mama scheduled for a c-section, providing the baby remained breech, and I was invited. I wouldn’t get to see the actual birth, of course—Sarah had never even been in this hospital’s OR. …
barf days (Kindred Mom post)
Hey, all! It’s another Kindred Mom day! You can click over there to read the whole thing or keep reading for part of it. As I rocked my toddler before bed, the thought came from nowhere: “You know, we haven’t had a stomach bug in a while…” On its heels: “CRAP. That’s always what I …
grace enough 