Hi, I’m Jaclynn.
Welcome to a fun, everyday writing space.
I’m often nostalgic and unequivocally curious. My passion is being a mental health counselor.
I’m also a gardener, muscovy duck owner, struggling declutterer, toddler mom, avid reader, and proficient budgeter.
I love music. So expect a healthy dose of lyrics, band names, and song titles sprinkled throughout my blog.
I hope you’ll laugh, learn something, and check in occasionally.
Anyway, I’m 41 now. So whether this blog’s title is relevant or not it’s up to you.
New posts in your inbox
Now, onto the blog!
We Are Family
It’s a day when loose-leafed trash blusters about the neighborhood. A street light flashes like a red carpet to a rave but is…
Read on!
He Ain’t Heavy
I nag myself away from colorful curtains on Pinterest to write. About what I have yet to find, but like animals to the…
Read on!
Cluh Mot Toe
Hoping to coax the hiding vulnerability in myself out, I ask, “What do you want to write about?” I set aside my need…
Read on!
Intimacy’s Devilish Dance: A Poem
Shrouded with barbed wire, we trudge the land of the untouchable. Enter At Your Own Risk, the scalding caldrons seem to say, oozing…
Read on!
Butterfly In The Sky
How enamoring are butterflies; their vulnerable fluttering, expansive display of color and the jaw-dropping carwash change from dull walkers to acrobatic artists. Cinderella,…
Read on!
Mortality’s Knock
I’m building a Leggo block house with extra high walls to prevent monsters, and additional protection is “pew” guns that shoot thorns for…
Read on!
Singin’ Sweet Songs
“Good golly Miss Molly”, I say wincing my body into a bath of steamy water. I’d get thrown in jail for doing a…
Read on!
Woman Of Few Words
But I don’t want to. Write. Not tonight. A luxurious slumber from which you keep. Me at knifepoint I type. Good night. Love,…
Read on!
The Tale of The Teeniest Rubber Chicken
Eyes sunk deep in their sockets, I trudge myself to work. Last night’s D&D session 11 pm, followed by writing and yoga, led…
Read on!
No Mercy Mayhem
It’s the no-light part of the morning when I feel like a thief stealing and adding minutes to the clock. Porch, garage, and…
Read on!
A Majestic Murder
It’s a day for the birds, literally. After picking up a to-go iced coffee at the ‘bucks, guttural caws flanked me on every…
Read on!
Cat Attack
I am a messy, knotted ball of string after a client requested I mediate a conversation between them and their ex. I know…
Read on!
Dull To Dramatic: A Writing Exercise
This week’s writing exercise was to write one bland and one exciting story. I loved Houdini-ing words and laying the drama on thick…
Read on!
The King Tide Abides
Lionel Richie’s vinyl spins and spills sensually into the air. It’s too good, I think, swaying softly while allowing him to make love…
Read on!
Cheeky Pouch Belly
It’s king tide time here at the ocean, otherwise known as the highest projected tide of the year. In town, a tsunami pod…
Read on!
Saboteur de Sugar
Damn, Dave Crosby died. I wrote a post about Dave and I’s joy in seeing him live and listening to his albums at…
Read on!
I’m Late, I’m Late
It’s a feverish pitch running naked through a cornfield kind of day. One thing backed up by another until I got home –…
Read on!
Sweet Child O’ Mine
I’m a big fan of making life easier for future me. So much so that zippi-ty-do-da-daying into the unknown and bonding with discomfort…
Read on!
Sidle Up Partner
I snap off, a dead battery of the mind. With a scarecrow at the helm, all SOS alerts go unreturned. As an endless…
Read on!
Flexing Down Below
At the start of writing, the value of a piece is unknown and undefined. It’s as if a door knob turns and a…
Read on!
Potato Bug Head
You can’t unsee a rooster mounting a duck. From its hop up, to the beak tugging on the duck’s neck feathers, to the…
Read on!
Sunday Morning Coming Down
I wish I lived in a world where courtesy was dialed back to none, and a blunt, “Get away from me, you gross…
Read on!
Shock To the Heart
My excitement at being chosen out of ten others for the cutest Pottery Barn magazine rack on Buy Nothing means my attention was…
Read on!
Eff Off Fear
I center myself, take a breath, look around the room, and think, Is there anything I need? Music, I need music. So I…
Read on!
Every Dog Has Its Day
I wrote down three ideas for this post, then deleted them all. I don’t want to write about how you should have a…
Read on!
Existential Sock Talk
Holy cow, there are fantastic corner wooden plant stands on Amazon. I’m a fastidious perfectionist, so I’ll scour every review and photo of…
Read on!
Moth Testicles
I’m stalling. Or rather, cleaning, adjusting blinds, and turning up and down the heat. In 22 minutes, the virtual conversational Spanish class I…
Read on!
Houseplant Arousal
I’d love to write long-form; informative, entertaining, and creative pieces. Tapestries that interweave and intersect cleverly and stimulatingly. I want the reader to…
Read on!
Magnetic Zombie
I shoot up my hand but before the words touch the air, I’m shhhh’d. At the pulpit is the critic rambling and spitting…
Read on!
Struggling Orchid: A Poem
I deleted a post. I tried to delete you. Like a Jack in the Box, time winds a memory to pop. Out of…
Read on!
Learning To Fly
A dismembered wing of a mallard duck my Dad killed hunting housed in a plastic bag is what my second-grade self brought to…
Read on!
Scent Of A Woman
Out of concern about the partner of a client feeling ganged up on (this happened previously to them in couples therapy), I wonder…
Read on!
I Got A New Attitude
How do we change our have-to’s to want-to’s? I’m taking my resolutions slow and steady in the spirit of starting and ending 2023…
Read on!
Tiptoe Through The Tulips
During covid, seed-exchange programs popped up in communities to share resources. I only found out they existed when I read an article on…
Read on!
Happy New Year!
With Mr. Rogers-like exuberance, Dave stands and says, “What do we want to do today?!” Then, answering his question says, “Are we doing…
Read on!
Feeling Badly
At the hockey game, I felt compelled to write the quirks of the guy seated next to me. “Didn’t practice the power kills…
Read on!
Desert Dwellers
Three outdated satellite dishes sit on property underneath powerlines, trucks’ hoods are rusted and propped open, and there are a smattering of unworking…
Read on!
What’s Up, Duck?
I’m seated next to the most talkative person at the Kraken game. He’s the guy that gets four or five drinks in him…
Read on!
Water Over The Bridge
I rolled down the car window to let the security guard know the last name of the people’s whose home I’m visiting. Here…
Read on!
I’m A Loser Baby
At the end of the second 5-Minute Bluey story, inspiration for this post hit. I contemplated running for my laptop and spilling the…
Read on!
Get Out Of The Water!
Dear Jaclynn, Write now because this is your time. I prompt myself, but it doesn’t work. Nothing is worth writing about tonight. Nothing…
Read on!
Talking Shmalking
Like clockwork, apps and calendars gently remind us of our home maintenance tasks. They do for me, anyway. In the Northwest, that means…
Read on!
Merry Xmas Ya Filthy Animals
Hearing fuck repeatedly fly from the mouth of my 3-year-old as she struggled to put the Frozen II Monopoly lid box on made…
Read on!
Excuses, Excuses
I suck at texting. I type a sentence, question my intentions, re-write it or don’t, then in a fit of stress, say “eff…
Read on!
Shortiest Day
I got lost in a circular thinking whirlpool with a client yesterday. It’s happened before, and when it does, I feel like Alice…
Read on!
It’s Not Always Sunny
“Do you think I take you for granted?” Over a homemade spaghetti and salad dinner tonight, both Dave and I answered yes to…
Read on!
I Dream Of Doughnuts
Needing four points to beat my opponent in Fantasy Football and watching my wide receiver score zero points in the first half left…
Read on!
Date Night
When going up steep hills, our Chevy Volt revs and growls unsatisfyingly. I think it gets stuck in gear, unable to shift into…
Read on!
Sugar And Spice
I remember reading that mastery comes after 10,000 hours of doing something. I know I mastered poker dealing, but what else? Gardening. Counseling.…
Read on!
Head In The Clouds
I’m the narrator of my life. I don’t hide. I’m like Stephen King, I write the book and then put myself in the…
Read on!
Litter Of Critters
Seeing the evidence of her disdain in session, panicky eyes, scrunching face like she’d eaten something rotten, and the defensive tone she used,…
Read on!
Based On True Events
I have missed three days of blogging this year; January 1st and 2nd (due to the blog’s nonexistence) and January 14th, my 40th…
Read on!
Flinging Things
“Just one more L-shaped sectional,” I tell myself, but upon hearing the thought, I stop. I know the slippery slope of the couch…
Read on!
The Giraffe: A Writing Exercise
You’re sitting at a bar with a giraffe. What are you discussing? What are you drinking? What is the giraffe drinking? What’s the…
Read on!
Wishing: A Poem
Her fear is like a river that’s escaped its banks, far from under her control. She breathes with relief when the pungi yields…
Read on!
Vroom Vroom!
I fed Evelyn edamame. “Eddy Money, I want more peas!” That’s please for all of you who don’t speak 3-year-old, and her trying…
Read on!
Cutting Wheelies
I’m walking laps on the upstairs track at the YMCA. Passing me on my left is a rotund man whose girth might disqualify…
Read on!
A Game Of Chess
Sometimes I have fun at work. Today I brought Klask, a mini version of air-hockey, to play with my 3 pm. I know…
Read on!
It’s A Rap (On The Floor)
A stop by Subway reminded me of the summer I ate for free there. A six-inch roasted chicken breast on Italian herbs and…
Read on!
Window Shopping
I returned a too-big-for-me pair of Vans shoes at a sports store connected to a mall. Mall. When was the last time I frequented…
Read on!
As It Seems: A Poem
Why am I such a miserable fool? The mutterings echo off the toilet bowl-stained limestone. I dream of freshly laundered linens and rose…
Read on!
Hula Guinea Foul
Sudsy snow blew from second-story windows in the town of Seabrook this evening. Dave should have kept his mouth closed, but he couldn’t…
Read on!
Ostrich Run
It’s a random winter night, cold to the point of freezing and mundane as a game of solitaire. A couple of beers, “Frozen…
Read on!
The Ethics of Ethics
To satisfy Washington state’s licensure requirements, I must complete 36 hours of continuing education credits every two years, six of which must be…
Read on!
How To Dating App
I met my husband on a dating app. “Once” is the app’s name; it claims it’s a “slow dating app.” And it is.…
Read on!
Ready, Set, Grow!
What’s next for this blog in 2023? I don’t know. And I can’t say because a song from “Frozen” is stuck in my…
Read on!
Oh, Behave!
I woke from the most fantastic Groundhog Day-like dream. In it, I kept bumping into someone that made me feel weak in the…
Read on!
Keep Your Hands To Yourself
The farty smell in the laundry room, which I solved last week but didn’t, is no more. In bending to clean behind the…
Read on!
Unforgettable Pockets
The thing about pockets, especially with other peoples, is that they are forgettable. Today at the holiday market at a nearby farm, Evelyn,…
Read on!Sick and Tired
It’s a day of being in and out of consciousness. A fever of 101.2 and a headache that after three baths, twenty-six naps…
Read on!
The Invisible Me: A Poem
With the stroke of a hand, light betrays dark. The monsters slink under beds, and the rooster slices silence with its screams. All…
Read on!
Bada Bing, Bada Boom
“I don’t like ’em. It’s not only the mush, but the firm. Like, pick a side, ya know?” A Tony Soprano-like client’s negative…
Read on!
I’m Late, I’m Late
“I don’t need it to freeze. Driving in at four AM would not be cool” The white-aproned man sets the roast beef on…
Read on!
Cliffhangering
I need a coffee recall button. After returning to the playroom twice, and the upstairs bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen thrice, I was still…
Read on!
Young Love
In third grade, my boyfriend was Trevor Gibson. When he played wall ball at recess, I played ponies on the four-square court. Ponies…
Read on!
Burning Down The House
“Your cabin is torqued.” James, our contractor-turned-friend, told Dave and me pre-covid about our ocean getaway. Maybe, he said, it’d collapse if he…
Read on!
Quittin’ Time
I’m distracting myself because writing feels like a job. A job I don’t want and one I have to wake up at 4…
Read on!
Somewhere With You
Heading to Toronto, riding the rails. Strands of lights under eaves brighten the shadows. I step into the light of which I’m not.…
Read on!
Tease The Day
On the drive home, my mind replays the countless stories of clients. It’s hard to tell which stories are my own. With the…
Read on!
A Spot Of Tea?
The juice supplying creativity amounts to barely a drop; if served in a saucer, a mouse would say, “What kind of restaurant is…
Read on!
A Fraudulent Smile
Don’t try selling me anything unless you’re a cute little ringlet-headed child with a brown vest, red hat, and a box full of…
Read on!
She’s A Small Wonder
A hard parenting night, the building up of work to-do’s, and a blank mind equally block the imagination’s flow. Right now, it’s a…
Read on!
Belly Of The Beast
Dave’s got a light strapped to his head, a cigar in hand, and a baby monitor and lighter in his pocket. Obviously, he’s…
Read on!
Nitwit Lice Lessons
I pushed six wheelbarrows full of browning and yellowing fallen leaves into the slippery, muddy muck of the duck pen. Not often do…
Read on!
Show ‘Em, Don’t Tell: A Writing Exercise
Choose one of the following: “Describe the gunky stuff that gets caught in the basket at the bottom of the sink. Don’t use…
Read on!
Puddly Boots
I have a last-minute cuddly buddy in bed with me; messy red-headed, milk-guzzling, four days away from three-years-old, Evelyn. She had a belly…
Read on!
No Escape From Reality
I’m very against bragging. I’d stand on a pulpit, wave my fist and lament how doing so is a failing to our most…
Read on!
To The Moon!
In the recesses of my mind, insecurity lurks that you’ll bore of me – how can you not?- and toss me aside like…
Read on!
Namby Pamby: A Poem
I write out of spite, not delight. A kite? I’d fly it to the stars. Or Mars. It’s up to the string—a thing…
Read on!
Walk This Way
Removing the television from the living room was one of the best decisions Dave and I made. Without a coffee table, there’s just…
Read on!
Thar She Flows
This is a day described as “awful” by a family member. The skies are letting loose, rain, rain, and more rain. On my…
Read on!
Red Hot Venti Preppers
A single tissue flaps in the wind, waving hello at me from the corner of the room. The air is on, and I’m…
Read on!
Queen Of The Road
There are twenty-three minutes until my next session. It’s with a couple that lives in their car. The summer was good to them,…
Read on!
Tree Fallin’
“I need to put water in my belly,” Evelyn said, hiccupping and running to find her glass. Remembering what my Mom used to…
Read on!
Take It Slow, Joe
“The Gentle Art of Loving Your Trauma Clients” is a continuing education course that appeared in my inbox this morning. Ninety-six percent of…
Read on!
My friend, Peter
It’s the usual “Talk?” text–and since I had a minute yesterday–I called and headed for a place on the back porch to chat.…
Read on!
Pumpkin Party
My body is abuzz from all the activity, and now that the final guests have exited, I can take a few moments and…
Read on!
Sex, Drugs, Cock N Roll
Nailed it! This post’s image, my friends, is of the oreo mummy balls Dave, Evelyn, and I made. Now, please don’t go on Google…
Read on!
Money For Nothing
I’m in the bath, watching a candle as it casts shadows on the wall. I am transported to a distant future after seeing…
Read on!Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Going On 40 
I love your writing.
LikeLike
Geez, Chuck. I’m blushing.
LikeLike
abortion…it takes a very courageous woman to admit those two difficult decisions. I could not be any more proud of you other than I know your Mom would have been. we all make mistakes, and should’nt have to pay for them with our lives and futures. Evelyn is the luckiest, to have you as her Mom,someone who was ready to love her💖
LikeLike
Thank you Kim. Your words mean a lot to me.
LikeLike