Out of the Box

As a young girl, I spent the majority of my time dirtying myself up in the woods of Wisconsin.  I loved playing make believe, cutting hair off my Barbie dolls, or jumping off the pier and into Lake Geneva.  I was not shy to being dirty, nor was I shy to getting rough with the boys.

From a baby to age fourteen, the question of love and who we fall in love with never really bothered me much.  As far as I knew during my grade school existence, I’d crushed on a few boys.  A few boys had crushed on me.  And of course, there were one or two girls who seemed to have feelings for me, but as far as I knew, I didn’t seem to like them back the same way.  Over all of that, I played on two hockey teams, so the idea of trying to date was totally off my radar.  So I placed myself in the first box: straight.  Straight as an arrow.  Or so I thought.

The Key to a Proper Diet

The year is 2011.  I was seventeen going on finally being a legal adult, preparing for university and collegiate division three ice hockey.  In the spring of that year, I’d written my first real full length manuscript (which I never ended up publishing) and I was attempting to get noticed on other smaller websites or journals.  As far as my future appeared, things were looking up.  Until I glanced around at the other aspects of my life.  Then the truth became more than apparent to me: my diet was inadequate.

Fall is for Family

Of all the seasons, my favorite is autumn.  Part of that is due to the beauty I saw growing up around this time of year.  In the Midwest, the leaves would change color, turning from vibrant green to rusted colors.  The trees would shed themselves of summer’s fragments and everyone would find their way to the orchards, ready to pick out the recent harvest: apples, pumpkins, fruits, vegetables, and then finish off a day in the fields with a drink of apple cider with mitten covered hands.