Blog: Infusion of
Courage
The Long Dark
It is coming. The longest dark. I was born into it, just a day before winter solstice. My ancestors lived for centuries near the arctic circle in Finland, where the long dark gathers up a great swath of the year and holds it in a cold embrace. I should be built for it; I should […]
A Simple Birthday Card
Unsent Do you procrastinate ordinary things? And the more time that goes by, the more the thing looms and gains importance? A simple birthday card, waiting for a stamp. Now it’s late- you can’t just send it like that, so you open it […]
Wonders of Old
When I tell our story, I often say that for now, we are on the other side of the “crisis years.” During those three plus years of teetering on the edge, it seemed like we would never be okay again. There were days when I was sure Nicholas would not outlive his teen years. But […]
My Boy from Before
I miss my kid. A few months ago I did a ten-part series on the worst pains of parenting a kid with mental illness (you can find that here). There was one I left out, not because it didn’t belong, but because it seemed like it needed its own space. The mourning over the kids […]
Painful Top Ten Compiled
Every child is unique. Every family is different from every other. Yet in this “weird little club” (see kirstenp.com/blog/weird) we share common ground. Here are the things I hear the most from mamas whose kids are struggling with mental illness: The Painful Top Ten: 10) People don’t understand 9) I am confused 8) I feel […]
Book Homes
Books have always been one of my great escapes. I was the kid who brought a book to the Superbowl party. My math teacher routinely confiscated books during class (I wasn’t as sneaky as I thought), and returned the stack on Friday. When I spent months in a hospital with Crohns Disease at age 14, […]