Sep 11 13
9/11, National Tragedy and Adoption Loss
"Will you tell me if anything ever happens to my baby?"
"Oh dear, you don’t need to worry about that. Your child will grow up healthy and happy, and you will move on with your life.”
How many times? How. Many. Times.
How many times have expectant mothers wondered to themselves, or perhaps so boldly asked this question, only to be patronized and shut down?
Too many to count.
It’s true, not everything about adoption is bad. And yes, most of the time the infant does get adopted, Read more [...]
Sep 9 13
I Love Corn
It was bound to happen.
As the gal who is constantly making stuff up, in English, no one should have been surprised.
Couple such a tendency with my blunt American ear, who can't always hear the nuances in Serbian pronunciation and ... shenanigans will ensue.
You may be aware of my love of the local piaca (PEE-at-sa). The open-air farmer’s market is THE place for fresh fruits and vegetables at the best prices.
The piaca also is where I've always felt comfortable stumbling over Read more [...]
The unconscious mind is not just a theory in a book, not some trumped-up paradigm or overblown fancy, but as real as the nose on your face, as real as a pickle jar. According to Jung, everything in the unconscious seeks outward expression; an inner situation that is not made conscious will manifest in outward events as fate.
--The Silent Wife: A Novel by A. S. A. Harrison
My children have this amazing radar that alerts them (even if they are perfectly content and playing in another room) Read more [...]
This is the view from my beach.
And by "my beach," I really mean our beach, i.e. the "beach" in Krašići (pronounced KRA-shi-chi), a teeny tiny seaside town on the Adriatic Coast in a country called Montenegro.
The word "beach" is a loose term; it's rather a cleared space of rocks that lead into the water.
Even the pronunciation of "beach" is vague, since it depends upon one's accent. The more British-sounding "beech" to my rogue American ear definitely sounds like "bitch."
And Read more [...]
Since you have become medication free, have the functions and the creativity you lost returned?
This was the question that blogger, yogi and cool chick Becky Johnson asked me in the last post, Creativity and Bipolar Disorder.
Can the creative edge be rediscovered?
Laura--The answer for me is yes and no. Even after stopping the antipsychotics and anti-anxiety meds (to keep the mania away), and then the antidepressants (to combat the lethargy and sadness brought on by the former two types), Read more [...]
You know how great it is when you find someone with something in common? You know how even better it is when you have several things in common?
Yeah, that.
Becky Johnson and I connected over a myriad of subjects, emailing back and forth about dance, our struggles with bipolar disorder, our mutual resentment of prescription drugs to manage said BPD, adoption, and more.
Here's a bit from a recent conversation ...
Deeper questions about living with BPD
Laura -- It’s so great to meet Read more [...]
My five-year-old recently told me that when she dies, she’d like to have a grave next to my husband and mine. Of course, this is not a subject I bring up with her (except when necessary). Apparently, it was something she’d been contemplating; since she recently visited the grave of one of her (very old) extended family members here in Serbia (it’s customary to visit a loved one’s grave on the anniversary of his or her birth or death, or both, each year).
Even though I was taken back Read more [...]
Aug 19 13
This Was Never Really a Mommy Blog
If I'm honest with myself and honest with you, I have to admit the following ...
This was never really a mommy blog, now was it?
This was never really an expat blog, now was it?
This was never really an adoption blog, now was it?
Well, I’m not just a mommy.
I was someone before I had kids. I was an educated, somewhat crazy artistic person who had outside interests, and sometimes even smart thoughts that did not revolve around poop, pee-pees or the joy of white crayon on black Read more [...]
Greetings from the windy road on the way to Montenegro ... By the time you're reading this I will have likely thrown up 1-3 times due to car sickness, and each of my children will have averaged 1-3 times, as well. At least I'll look thinner at the beach ...
It's summer and a great time for reflection. While I sit with my head between my knees and try not to dry-heave my stomach lining, and in honor of my August birthday month, I thought this post was worth a reprint ...
* * *
I hate surprise Read more [...]
These are the tough questions of our time, and they are not mere #firstworldproblems. Yeah, I just used a hashtag in a blog post for no good reason.
The sunscreen [or]
Keep-the-child-in-the-shade-at-all-times-if-possible [or]
Just-slap-a-hat-on-her ... question is alive and kicking here in the Balkans (and most areas in this region are not "first world," whatever that actually means).
Yes, in the U.S. we are obsessed with preventing sun damage, and lather our kids up with thick layers Read more [...]
