The Mayor Will See You Now (One Minute Memoir)

A Memoir on Waiting Rooms, Big Questions, and Social Confidence

Setting: April 2026 

I picked Holden up early from school the other day for a doctor’s appointment. By the end of it, I was pretty sure he'd had a great time.

When he got in the car, my CarPlay queued up "I’m Just a Kid" by Simple Plan, one of my middle school anthems from 2002.

Before I could even say anything, he belted out, “I’M JUST A KID AND LIFE IS A NIGHTMARE!”

I just stared at him. “How do you know this song?”

He shrugged. “YouTube.”

Of course. Where all generational gaps go to die.

By the time we got to the doctor’s office, he had fully assumed his usual role: unofficial mayor of wherever we are. He greeted the receptionists and was immediately recognized by a medical assistant who remembered him from last time.

We got into the exam room, and he was already scanning for conversation opportunities. As soon as the nurse walked in, he got to work.

“It doesn’t hurt,” he assured her while she checked his blood pressure.

A few seconds later, just in case she needed an update:

“It still doesn’t hurt.”

Then, pointing to the numbers, he asked, “Does anyone ever get to 300?” She said yes. He nodded thoughtfully. “I think I might get there someday.”

We gently suggested that was not a goal.

As she left, she said the doctor would be in soon.

“Is he a boy?” Holden asked, despite the fact that she had referred to the doctor as he approximately three seconds earlier. Despite the fact that he's had the same doctor since birth. Despite the fact that he asked the same exact question last time.

Finally, the doctor walked in, and within seconds, Holden was running the conversation.

“Do I need a shot?”
“Do I need an x-ray?”

Then, without hesitation: “Do you ever have adult patients who… have accidents?”

The doctor, to his credit, took this very seriously and launched into a full explanation.

I sat there quietly observing as my seven-year-old conducted what felt like a one-on-one interview. Every question answered. No deferring to me. No hesitation. Just confidence.

When it was time to go, he skipped out of the room, calling out goodbyes to anyone within range and wishing them all a good day like he worked there.

In the car, he leaned back, satisfied. “That was a great appointment.” Then, after a beat: “Ugh. I forgot to ask him how to lose pounds.”

We stopped at McDonald’s after, where he confidently informed them they had shorted him two nuggets, requested extra dipping sauce, and asked a man nearby if he was in line before stepping up.

No fear. No second-guessing. Just… forward motion.

Honestly, I think the doctor answered all of his questions.

Mine are still pending.

Like how he walks into every room assuming people will like him. 

Or how he never seems worried about saying the wrong thing. 

Or how he became the most confident person in our family.

I hope the world never talks him out of it.

This post is part of my One-Minute Memoir series — short reflections on small moments that still manage to say something big.

Read More

The Unphotogenic Parts of Starting Over

What rebuilding a life actually looks like

Post-divorce glow-ups are supposed to be cinematic.

New hair. New body. New wardrobe. A sharper jawline and a brighter smile. The soundtrack swelling behind you while you walk away from what broke you.

That's the version that circulates.

Mine looked different.

It looked like spreadsheets titled "Debt" and "Projected Payoff." It looked like sitting on calls with school administrators, trying to keep my boys in the only schools they had ever known after we moved. It looked like Zoom arguments with lawyers and judges, listening to my children discussed as line items in a custody schedule.

It looked like moving back into a bedroom I once slept in as a teenager and pretending that didn't sting. It looked like weight regained during stress and then slowly, quietly losing some of it again.

It looked like filing paperwork. Rebuilding credit. Adjusting expectations. Renegotiating what "stable" meant.

It looked like exhaustion.

No one films the administrative work of becoming stable again.

There is no montage for rebuilding your financial footing. No applause for learning how to sit with uncertainty. No dramatic reveal for paying off a credit card balance one payment at a time.

It wasn't glamorous. It was structural.

I didn't become radiant. I became steadier.

Stronger in some ways. Tired in others. Proud. Relieved. Still anxious.

I am still rebuilding. Still adjusting. Still sometimes unsure of where this version of my life is headed. But I keep going, even when it feels hard, even when it feels impossible, even when it feels smaller than the life I thought I would have by now.

That might be the real glow-up. Maybe it doesn't look like a big reveal. 

Maybe it just looks like endurance

Read More

What I Watched: May 2026

May turned into another very documentary-heavy month, with a mix of crime, justice system stories, scams, and one absolutely wild chimpanzee saga. Apparently my television diet continues to consist primarily of eccentric people making questionable decisions, and honestly, I’m okay with that.

Movies

The Sheep Detectives ★★★☆☆
Theater · 2026
A cute family mystery about a group of sheep trying to solve a case in their community. I saw this in the theater with the kids on our bargain movie night. Cute movie! I liked it, and they loved it.

Shows

Full House
Hulu · 1987 · Rewatch · S1E4
The slowest rewatch in history continues.

Documentaries & Docuseries

Should I Marry a Murderer? ★★★★★
Netflix · 2026 · Docuseries · 4 episodes
A woman discovers her fiancé killed a cyclist years earlier and secretly helps police build a case against him. This story was completely absurd and incredibly compelling to watch. Caroline was both maddening and likable at the same time, which honestly made the series even more fascinating. It was a wild look at how love can distort judgment, and she was also an excellent storyteller.

The Alabama Solution ★★☆☆☆
HBO Max · 2025 · Documentary film
Examines violence, corruption, and systemic failures inside Alabama’s prison system through footage and testimony from incarcerated people. This was interesting and eye-opening, though it never fully pulled me in emotionally. A lot of the story is told through cellphone footage recorded inside prisons, which disrupted the flow for me a bit. Still, an important and deeply sad watch.

The Crash ★★★★☆
Netflix · 2026 · Documentary film
A true-crime documentary about Mackenzie Shirilla, the Ohio teenager convicted of intentionally crashing her car and killing two passengers. I knew very little about this case going into it, and the story is genuinely mind-boggling. The documentary is very well done, with interviews from many of the key people involved and multiple perspectives on the investigation. Compelling and fascinating to watch.

We Are Jeni ★★☆☆☆
HBO Max/ID · 2026 · Docuseries · 2 episodes
Follows Dr. Jeni Haynes, who developed Dissociative Identity Disorder after severe childhood abuse and later helped convict her father. An incredibly sad and fascinating story, but I wanted the series to go much deeper into her personalities and mental health. The animated reenactments also felt oddly out of place and took me out of it at times. Jeni herself was remarkable, though, and her story is unforgettable.

Chimp Crazy ★★★★★
HBO Max · 2024 · Docuseries · 4 episodes
Explores the controversial world of private chimpanzee ownership through the story of Tonia Haddix and her beloved chimp, Tonka, whose fate becomes the center of a legal battle involving animal rights groups and authorities. This series was absolutely bananas and I loved every second of it. I've had a lifelong fascination with monkeys and great apes, so this documentary hooked me immediately. The people featured are endlessly compelling and more than a little eccentric, taking their devotion to these animals far beyond what most people would consider normal. It was eye-opening about the exotic animal trade, heartbreaking at times, and surprisingly funny. Tonia was an absolute hoot. I liked her at times, questioned her judgment often, and never quite knew what she was going to do next. A wild and memorable watch.

Telemarketers ★★★☆☆
HBO · 2023 · Docuseries · 3 episodes
Two former telemarketers set out to expose decades of fraud and corruption within the charity fundraising industry, documenting their investigation over more than twenty years. This covered a topic I had honestly never given much thought to before. It was eye-opening, funny, and full of memorable characters, especially Pat, who I found hilarious. His personality carried a lot of the series for me. While I learned a lot about telemarketing scams and the people behind them, the subject matter didn't always hold my attention, and the story spans so many years that it occasionally felt stretched out. Interesting and worthwhile overall, but not one that will stick with me for long.

By the Numbers

• Finished Titles: 7
• Movies: 1
• Shows: 1 ongoing rewatch
• Documentary Films: 2
• Documentary Series: 4
• Five-Star Watches: 2

Superlatives

Favorite Watch: Chimp Crazy
Most Fascinating: Should I Marry a Murderer?
Biggest Disappointment: We Are Jeni

Overall, this was a strong month of watching. The documentaries easily stole the show, with Chimp Crazy and Should I Marry a Murderer? standing out as two of my favorite watches of the year so far.

Read More

The Ten Day Plan (One Minute Memoir)

A Memoir on Ambitious Goals, Fading Resolve, and Brownie Dippers

Setting: April 2026 — The day discipline met brownie dippers

I used to follow Crumbl like it was a sport.

I checked spoiler pages weeks ahead. Planned lineups. Ranked flavors. Left reviews in the app like future me might need the data someday.

Lately, cookies haven’t had the same place in my life. I’m trying to lose weight, and weekly cookie strategy no longer fits the mission. I mostly stopped going. 

But then an email arrived: brownie dippers. Brownies in a cup with frosting and sprinkles on the side.

This felt innovative. Dangerous. Necessary to try.

So I ordered them on my lunch break and brought them home that night, excited to show Holden. Holden loves food with the kind of sincerity some people reserve for religion. We call him food aggressive. I assumed he’d be thrilled.

Instead, he looked at the brownies, then looked at me, and said: “No. It has too many calories. I’m trying to lose ten pounds in ten days.”

Then he walked out of the room while I sat there stunned, holding a cup of brownie dippers I had specifically purchased for this moment.

Twenty minutes later, he came back.

“Can I have some brownies now?”

He ate several.

His journey was brief, but inspiring.

This post is part of my One-Minute Memoir series — short reflections on small moments that still manage to say something big.

Read More

Inside Out, Again

On childhood, repetition, and the stories that fill a home

There are many movies in the world.

Thousands, probably. Maybe more.

In our family, there are about four.

They rotate with remarkable dedication. A few weeks of Inside Out. Then a sudden pivot to The Wild Robot. Sometimes a nostalgic return to an old favorite like it’s being rediscovered for the first time.

Right now, Holden is very committed to Inside Out. Caleb has also had his phases with it. At one point, it felt like the entire emotional landscape of our house was narrated by animated feelings.

Children have an extraordinary tolerance for repetition. They don’t tire of a story the way adults do. In fact, they seem to prefer it that way.

The familiar opening music.

The same jokes.

The same lines delivered at exactly the same moments.

The first time I watched Finding Nemo with the boys, it felt like a movie night.

By the twentieth, I started to understand something about children that adults tend to forget.

They aren’t watching for surprise.

They’re watching for certainty.

They want to know exactly what will happen next. They want the reassurance that the story will unfold the way it always does.

The characters will say the same things. The ending will arrive right on time.

Nothing in the world of that story will suddenly change.

Children find comfort in that.

And if I’m honest, sometimes I do too.

When I’m stressed, or sad, or just don’t know what to watch, I turn on Grey’s Anatomy. It’s my emotional support show. I’ve seen enough of it that the rhythm feels familiar. The characters. The music. The pacing of the episodes.

It comforts me.

It doesn’t matter that I know how it ends. It still quietly devastates me when someone dies.

I don’t usually rewatch shows or reread books. But sometimes I understand the instinct.

Sometimes you don’t want a new story.

Sometimes you want the one that already knows how to hold you.

I’ve seen that pattern before.

When Caleb was little, there was a long stretch where our house was basically Lilo & Stitch. The movie. The soundtrack. The same scenes replayed again and again.

That was also how the Elvis phase happened.

Because of the movie.

For a brief period around age five, Caleb became deeply committed to Elvis Presley. He would stand near the Echo and ask Alexa, very seriously, to play "Suspicious Minds," then listen like it was the most important song ever recorded.

That phase passed, the way they all do.

There was also the Secret Life of Pets phase. I had to buy him a Mel stuffed animal. Later, Holden needed one too. For a while those little dogs lived everywhere in our house.

There was the Sing and Sing 2 era. I didn’t mind that one as much. The music was actually pretty good.

And then there was the Charlie Brown Christmas season.

It started sometime in the fall last year and lasted well past the holidays. Almost every night, Caleb would make popcorn and settle in to watch it. The same movie. The same ritual.

Sometimes he and Holden would act out the quick hand movements before the little reveal of the tree. They loved that part. They loved the way the characters dance to the piano music. They’d laugh every time.

We tried, occasionally, to introduce the other holiday versions when the timeline made sense. The Thanksgiving one. The Great Pumpkin.

Caleb almost always turned them down.

Christmas only.

Looking back now, it feels like its own small era in our house.

Some of these phases I welcomed. Some of them tested my patience.

But looking back, I miss almost all of them.

Last year when the live-action Lilo & Stitch came out, I took both boys to the theater. For a moment it felt like stepping back into that earlier phase.

For a little while, the movie belonged to our house again.

Now Holden has his own rotations.

Inside Out. K-Pop Demon Hunters.

The songs have made their way into the car playlist. Caleb knows them too. They request them like they’re part of the permanent soundtrack of our lives. We’ve listened enough times that I can sing “Golden” like I’m performing with Huntrix. We ran to “Soda Pop” all last fall.

By now, I know exactly how this works.

Right now it feels endless. The same movie. The same songs. The same lines spoken before the characters even say them.

But childhood moves faster than the movie rotation.

One day the movie will end, and we won’t start it again.

For now, though, the opening music plays, and somewhere from the couch a small voice says,

“Again.”

Read More

Month in Review: May 2026

May 2026 in Review

May was a busy, sweet, slightly chaotic month full of school events, music, candy, brownies, waterfalls, and the slow realization that Caleb is somehow old enough to be heading to middle school. It was one of those months that felt full in a good way, even with a few lingering annoyances finally working themselves out.

Month by the Numbers

Weight: ↓ 4.6 lbs	|	Migraines: 2
Runs / Walks: 0	|	Books: 2
Blog Posts: 13	|	OMMs: 4
Savings: ↑ $115	|	Debt: ↓ $407.91

OMM = One Minute Memoir

Less reading and saving than I hoped for, but strong progress on debt, weight loss, and migraines.

May, As It Happened

A lingering problem solved: May started with another doctor appointment for my stubborn belly button issue, which had been dragging on for far too long. Thankfully, it finally resolved early in the month. Not exactly the most glamorous monthly highlight, but at that point, I was very ready to stop thinking about it.

A bridal shower: I went to my cousin’s bridal shower and got to spend time with my mom and aunt. There was delicious food, good company, and the nice reminder that her wedding is already coming up this month.

Middle school becomes real: Caleb and I went to new student night at his new middle school, where he’ll be going next year for 6th grade. It went well, and he seemed excited, which helped. I, however, am still slightly in shock. Middle school feels like one of those parenting milestones that sneaks up and then suddenly stands in your kitchen wearing grown-up shoes.

Discount Tuesday at the movies: The kids and I went to see The Sheep Detectives on our custom Tuesday bargain night. They loved it. I’m a big Hugh Jackman fan, and I thought it was cute. We had popcorn, candy, bacon ranch fries, and smuggled-in pop, so honestly, the whole thing was a success before the movie even started.

Candy Bingo: We made out like bandits at our monthly Bingo night at the community center. It was candy themed, and all of us won multiple candy prizes. I also got a trivia question right by correctly guessing that Big League Chew came out in 1980, which meant Holden was thrilled that we won a package of it. I hadn’t had it in years, so that was a very specific little blast from the past.

A month of music: Caleb had two concerts this month. First was his spring concert for both band and chorus, followed by a celebratory trip to Byrne Dairy for ice cream with my parents. They were, once again, out of hot fudge, because apparently that is just part of the Byrne Dairy experience now. The next week was a special concert where Caleb was selected for an Honors Band that got to play with a guest conductor/composer who traveled here for the occasion. I was so proud watching him up there. Afterward, we hit the McDonald’s drive-through for celebratory fries, ice cream, and a frozen Coke.

KISS Breakfast: I went to Holden’s school for the yearly KISS Breakfast ("Kids Invite Someone Special"). We sat with his friend and his friend’s dad, and the kids had fun. I always like getting little windows into their school worlds, even when it is loud, crowded, and fueled by breakfast foods.

Memorial Day at Letchworth: We had Memorial Day off and went to Letchworth for a little hiking and waterfall viewing. It started out rainy, which was not exactly promising, but it turned into a beautiful day. A very Western New York kind of plot twist.

The brownie project continues: We made and ate more brownies, continuing our very serious family brownie taste testing project. I think we’ve finally run out of mixes to try, which feels like the end of an era. A very chocolatey, slightly sticky era.

What I Read

A slower reading month, but one of the books was an easy standout.

• The Privilege by A.R. Hollowell ★★★★★
• Drowning in Paper Flowers by E.L. Westbury ★★★☆☆

Favorite: The Privilege

Yearly Progress: 15 / 100

What I Watched

May turned into another very documentary-heavy month, with a mix of crime, justice system stories, scams, and one absolutely wild chimpanzee saga.

Movies

The Sheep Detectives ★★★☆☆
Theater · 2026

TV Shows

Full House
Hulu · 1987 · Rewatch · s:1 e:4

Documentaries & Docuseries

Should I Marry a Murderer? ★★★★★
Netflix · 2026 · Docuseries · 4 episodes

The Alabama Solution ★★☆☆☆
HBO Max · 2025 · Documentary film

The Crash ★★★★☆
Netflix · 2026 · Documentary film

We Are Jeni ★★☆☆☆
HBO Max/ID · 2026 · Docuseries · 2 episodes

Chimp Crazy ★★★★★
HBO Max · 2024 · Docuseries · 4 episodes

Telemarketers ★★★☆☆
HBO · 2023 · Docuseries · 3 episodes

Coming Up in June

Looking at my June calendar has honestly been giving me anxiety. It is one of those months where every time I think I have reached the end of the schedule, I discover something else on it. I’ve already had to take quite a bit of time off work just to make everything fit.

June includes:

• Doctor’s appointments for both Holden and me
• Another birthday party on Holden’s social calendar
• Chaperoning Caleb’s band trip to a local amusement park
• Seeing Suffs with my aunt, which I’ve never seen before
• My cousin’s wedding
• Taking a civil service exam
• Moving Up ceremonies at both boys’ schools
• A summer-themed evening event at Caleb’s school, which will likely be his very last event there. Bittersweet.
• Monthly Bingo night, with a pizza theme again because the kids love pizza night
• Seeing Joe Gatto at the local comedy club with my aunt. He used to be on Impractical Jokers, and I’ve always wanted to see him live. I’ve already seen Murr once and Sal twice, so I’m excited to cross another Joker off the list.
• Hopefully squeezing in a few runs somewhere along the way

On top of all that, June is shaping up to be a busy month at work, too, so I’ll be busy from just about every direction. It should be a fun month, but I’m already looking ahead to July and hoping for a slightly slower pace.

♥

See you next month.

Read More