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The Widowhood │Sometimes You Get Things Back
One of the things I had to give up when my husband died was the publishing contract that I had on my middle grade/high school fantasy novel that I had worked so hard on and was so excited to see coming to print. It was a gutting decision, but one that I ha to make…
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The Widowhood │ Nighttime Reflections
I was 27 years old when I met my husband. I was 37 years old when I was burying him. Three kids, two houses, all of Europe, most of the East coast and a whirlwind of life later, I was alone again. I had met him on a blind date. A coworker of mine had…
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The Hart Home│I Am a Widow Now
I am 37 years old. And I am a widow. If you had asked me a month ago what I thought this year would look like I would have told you about the several college classes I was teaching, my book deal, the trip to Disney World that my husband had pushed to book for…
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The Hart Home│I Wrote This 13 Years Ago Today
Facebook reminded me of this private note that I wrote myself 13 years ago today. It was my senior year of college. I was accepted into several graduate programs, one that was going to take me abroad for two years. My high school/college boyfriend of 5 years and I had broken up for the last…
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The Hart Home│Ruin is a Gift, Ruin is the Road to Transformation
In Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love one of my favorite lines is this: ” Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.” In 2013, my life kind of fell apart much like it did when I had graduated from college. I was in an awful relationship that finally ended. I was acting as a…
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The Hart Home│Why I Didn’t Marry Until My 30’s
I think the simplest reason why I put off marriage and even getting engaged until I was almost 30 was that I wanted to keep my 20’s for myself. At my core, I am very artistic and I am a dreamer. I have so many dreams of what I want to do and where I…
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Mental Health and Your PhD
I had not realized the toll my PhD had taken on my well-being until very recently. As a PhD candidate you are always teaching or writing. Then, when you’re not you don’t know what to do with yourself and often, there is a sense of pervading guilt that you’re being “lazy” by not being involved with…
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That’s a Wrap!
Yesterday, in the early hazy morning hours, I typed the final sentences to my 38,000 word, 135 page doctoral dissertation. That is right. Yesterday morning, I finished writing my doctoral dissertation. I dedicated to my son because he was very much my dissertation baby. I got pregnant with him three months before I entered my…
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The Chop That Was Part II
When I started trying to get pregnant, I stopped dying my hair. At that point in my life I was becoming a mom and as such, I would worry about anything and everything from that point out. I used to love dying my hair. I had been doing it since I was 16. I have…
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The Chop That Was
I am an old soul and as such, I have always been drawn to different times and old things. I also have difficulties letting go. Lately, it has been my hair. I had grown it out for our wedding and it was all the way down my back for the first time since I was…
