Writer
I'm having urges for a new tattoo. My last one, on the palm of my right hand was four years ago. It was a celebration of sorts - a mark on my body to remind me how long I've lasted without a drink. I was five years sober at the time, now nine years. Nine... Continue Reading →
Eight years into our marriage my husband and I purchased the house where I grew up from my stepdad. We gutted it. I called it the excavation of my personal history. We took down part of the wall between the kitchen and living room. We dry-walled the basement and had new carpet installed. We repainted... Continue Reading →
"There is no use trying," said Alice; "one can't believe impossible things." "I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." I have this Lewis Carroll... Continue Reading →
Not so long ago, my daughter's bedtime routine ended with the following question every night: "Will you talk to me about it?" It was all of the anxieties and fears and worries that invaded her bedroom as soon as she was tucked in. "No matter what, everything will be okay. There's absolutely nothing to worry... Continue Reading →
I'm enrolled in a 12-week writing course this summer aimed at helping writers complete book-length projects. The course overview said students should come to the class with at least east 25 pages of a first draft. When I found the course more than a month ago, my plan was to dig back into a story... Continue Reading →
Last month I ran a half marathon. It was my first. I've come to running a little later than most. Toward the end of last year, at age 41, I started jogging halfway through my walks. My usual three mile jog turned into four miles, and then five. Eventually, during a particularly good run, an... Continue Reading →
Today I ran 9.01 miles. This is the farthest I have ever run. Ever. To make the nine miles feel less like nine miles, I divided the run into two loops - one three-mile loop that I do all the time, and one six-mile loop, that I've done before, but not after already doing three.... Continue Reading →
When I began this effort to blog every day for the month of March, I didn't even flinch. How hard could 31 days straight be? In 2008, I blogged every day for 365 days. Every day. But, here I am, ten days in and already feeling like I'm up against a brink wall every night... Continue Reading →
Happy New Year! 2014--can't you even imagine? Remember dancing to, "Two-thousand-zero-zero, party over, oops out of time..." and thinking 2000 was so far away? Now look where we are. The future. Also, where the hell have I been? August? Really? That was the last time I blogged? If I was sitting across from myself right... Continue Reading →
I did it. I finished the Cradle to Grave 30k in Pisgah National Forest. It was brutal and excruciatingly difficult at times. It was wet and the course was more than just a little bumpy, sometimes proving to be almost impassable. On more than one occasion, I nearly lost a shoe sloshing through puddles of... Continue Reading →
Amy Gesenhues 