My Dogs Are Racist Assholes

March 3, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

When Rob was in residency, we lived in Savannah, GA. We didn’t have money, and we didn’t live in the best part of town. Now, to be clear, mid- and downtown Savannah are a bit strange in that fabulous mansions and rundown trap houses can share the same block. But houses like ours – 2 […]

As the World Falls Down

March 2, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

The world seems to be going to shit in multiple different shapes, sizes, colors, flavors, and textures. We have a complete reliance upon technology coupled with a generalized inability of un-prepped Americans to care, provide, produce for themselves, having zero survival skills. Rob and I say to each other at least once a week that […]

“Sex & the City” Ruined Us

February 24, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

I was thinking about the show “Sex and the City”, and the ways that show changed the female narrative. It was very positive and empowering in a lot of ways. It gave us permission to be sexually bold and selfish. It violated the social contract – the long-held belief that women aren’t allowed to ever […]

Real Talk

February 20, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

This story is 100% unretouched and unembellished. I pulled into the blue spot at the Dollar General, and noticed that the SUV in the blue spot next to mine had no plate or placard. Fortunately, the driver was by his car. Me, rolling down my window: “Hey, do you have a handicapped tag?” […]

Getting Hi

January 8, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

When Ana was first learning to talk, we weren’t sure what she should call my stepdad. Mom and Steve were just dating at that point, so “Grandpa” wasn’t yet appropriate. But we all knew the relationship was probably headed toward marriage, so “Steve” wasn’t quite right either. While we struggled to find a name, whenever […]

Gimps on Parade

January 8, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

(From 2013) My elderly, deaf, arthritic, German Shepherd just expressed for the first time in over a year that she was interested in going ANYWHERE other than her bed and the backyard. I was fixing a cup of coffee, and she came and got me, and walked me to the front door. This never happens, […]

Pressing Engagement

December 30, 2017.Reading time 2 minutes.

Rob and I had been dating for over a year, and had been living together for just a few months, when I woke him up in the middle of the night, climbed on top of him, and pinned him down. (This is not a sex story. Those who have arrived at the wrong classroom are […]

Part 8: Needful Things

September 15, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Erick Rehkopf, the man who crashed his car, drunk, and caused my injury, pled guilty to aggravated vehicular assault, a Class D Felony, in October 2006. The offense carried a three-year sentence which, at the Judge’s discretion, could be served through a variety of methods, from simple probation to a full term of jail time. […]

Part 7: Sentencing Statement

September 1, 2017.Reading time 13 minutes.

At Erick Rehkopf’s sentencing hearing, I read the following statement: Your honor, when the defendant chose to drive his car with three passengers while intoxicated and crashed it into the back of a turning tractor trailer, I sustained serious, life-threatening injuries. Two of my ribs were broken, my scalp was peeled back from the top […]

Part 6: Dances With Wolves

August 15, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

Spinal cord injury support group meetings are unbearable. They are typically one hour, once a month, held at a hospital, and run and organized by staff who have never had a disability. The format is not honest discussion among those with injuries (as implied by the words SCI, support, and group), but rather a presentation […]