Chasing Conversation
I’m reinvigorated in my Spanish-learning journey. Seeking everyday conversation, I initially browsed for MasterChef and reality shows, but after spending some time on a…
Waiting On A Grocery list
I have had ten thoughts about what to write. Part of me feels raw. Another feels silly. And another is just going through the…
A Tickle and A Flickle
Slithering snakes and pesky bugs were the red flags thrown our way when we moved to the South. This morning, coffee in hand, I…
Plant Dreaming
The sounds around me are loud. It’s night now, and the storms have brought out all the insects. Wondering how to communicate just how…
How Things Come Together
In the Bog of Eternal Stench, the characters in the Labyrinth are unable to cross the bubbling pit of foul-smelling liquid. At a crossroads,…
Campers in the Outfield
Kevin, the mascot at the Macon baseball game, could use a costume upgrade. His nose is a white skyscraper jutting out from the brown…
The Truest Me
Self-care, self-care, self-care. In my profession’s sphere, the phrase is practically a religion. What do you do for self-care? What is your self-care routine?…
Clocking Out
Holy shamoley, work, work, work is all I did today. My brain is a pile of mush. So Dave’s got it covered, and put…
Welcome to Jurassic Park
I work with high-functioning people. In their jobs, homes, and communities, they excel. And still, they get depressed, triggered, and lose hours to mental…
Tiny Harvest, Loud Mind
Today’s garden harvest fit in the palm of my hand: three plump burgundy raspberries and five cherry tomatoes ranging from orange to deep red.…
The Church of Puppetry
I don’t do church, and yet spiritual experiences find me in odd places. Like in a theatre at the Center for Puppetry Arts. The…
Soft in the South
How do you feel about cold weather? It makes me mad. Moving to the South has made me soft. Where once I trudged through…
The Best Type of Full
I’m attracted to risk. Not the 90’s board game where you attempt world domination, but the daring kind. The step-off-the-edge, free-fall, stomach-dropping kind. Especially…
But Are You Sure?
There’s something almost cruel about being a writer and still reaching for the word interesting. It’s the beige throw pillow of language. A placeholder.…
Grateful, grateful, grateful
Happy birthday to this guy. He’s my everything. Love, Jaclynn
The Things We Can’t Force
I have an ice pack under my left butt cheek. I’m “bummed” about it. Running is a bugger of a sport, and strains and…
The Call of the Strawberries
It’s the strawberries’ call I heed today. Their mid-production need is feeding. After a handful of downpours, the once supple, rich, airy soil is…
Resting to the Beat
Sunday is a day of rest, they say. And that, my friends, is today. So let us rest! I’ll be back tomorrow. Love, Jaclynn…
Falling For Ruby
Neener neener boo boo, I went 1,100 feet underground today. And you didn’t. Oh, and I also petted alpacas with bouffant tufts of hair,…
A Mammoth Cave of a Day
Reaching 20,000-plus steps in a day is usually reserved for Disney-goers. The feat is rarely something I accomplish, even with 5K runs and heavy…
Destination: Horse Cave KOA
I love the landscape here. From the brick-stacked rock formations rubbing shoulders with the fog line to the massive, subtly rippling waves of green…
Paranoia’s Knock at the Door
\With only the lamp on my office desk turned on, I looked at my reflection in the virtual waiting room where I hold counseling…
The Magic of Discipline
In the Runners Loving Runners Facebook group, a member asked, “How do I stay motivated to go out and run?” The answers—most of them…
To Text or Not To Text
I had a client announce, “I’m now a person who’s on time.” And I’m not the first person they’d told. They’d shown up at…
For the Love of Relationships
As I wait for the bagel dough to rise, I should use this time efficiently—especially since inspiration is knocking at the door. Let’s get…
Peaceful Easy Feeling
To save Dave and me from insanity when “I’m hungry” hits right before bedtime, I made a rule: the kitchen’s closed. I do no…
Learning the Land
I borderline far too serious and not. On one hand, I think myself quite funny, a Mr. Bean eyebrow-raising persona saying, “Will you get…
The Challenge With Hindsight
Every so often, the suggested friends portion of Facebook gets a click from me. An old poker-dealing buddy was the first hit from an…
What Healing Feels Like
Absentmindedly, I started with “The client…” then stopped. This isn’t a progress note, an account for an insurance company to approve or deny. This…
The Not So Holy Grail
Today, a session reminded me of the assumptions and projections we create when we lack information. I think back to October of ’24, post…
False Alarm
You probably wouldn’t notice looking at me, but I’m not myself. I’m a too-tight rubber band that’s retreated inside, like a fox in the…
Notting Hill (2026)
I scrolled through the handful of WordPress’s daily prompts, hoping for a gold nugget of an answer to shoot into my mind like a…
Movie Night
How’s it 8:41 p.m. already, huh?! Paused on the TV, ready for play to be pressed, is the movie The Witches. I grew up…
Where Seldom Is Heard
On a plastic dinglebog, I’ve hung an eye mask. It’s night two of front yard camping, and that’s one thing I learned from night…
An Unnecessary Turf War
I run. When I do, I take up the third half of a lane—the left lane. I run straight toward oncoming traffic, but 99%…
Where We Lay Our Head
Bus 24-74 is one of a barrage of buses that crosses our front porch’s vantage point. In the long string of buses, it’s that…
How I Turned a Small Moment Into a Big Problem
It started after a session with a newish client. The intersection of feeling needed by them and my sense I’ve failed them does it.…
Back Alley Mind
I’m spinning in a toilet bowl that isn’t flushing. About relationships. About what I didn’t say, didn’t do, where my voice is throttled or…
Bippity Boppity Boutique
Like a ship in a storm, the waves pound me sideways—unrelenting and unforgiving. The AliExpress seller scam sucked me dry for $150, and my…
Night Off
Real quick, hit my personal record on the two-mile run tonight. Other than that, no news. See you tomorrow! Love, Jaclynn
Don’t Call Me Shirley
How do you use social media? A woman on a mission, a woman on a mission. Too long I’ve couched it; a lazy Saturday,…
Running On Full
I can do hard things. At the tail end of mile one of a four-mile run this morning, the thought came to me. At…
I Had a Voice. I Didn’t Use It.
Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently? The fortune teller’s ball is crystal…
Shiver Me Timbers
What makes you nervous? The supervolcano at Yellowstone ranks among the top 100. But more so is the overdue for an eruption—Mount Rainier in…
Unpretzeling the Day
How do you unwind after a demanding day? My cousin-in-law is scuba certified, and last week dove at the Atlanta Aquarium. The oxygen leaving…
A Clown’s Nose Nothing
Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind. Silly me. All this time blogging, and I’ve yet to do a daily prompt.…
The Race to Fairness
I really liked a woman’s blog once. I could tell she liked her messy selves—takes one to know one. I trusted her words like…
To the Climbing Tree
I have a rubbery gorilla bracelet on my left wrist. Evelyn tells me it can summon monsters—even bad ones. There are 1,000 monsters in…
Where the Beer is Cold
I have several clients my age, or close to it. Women. Our biology overlaps, and it lends itself to girl-talk-type conversations—but also to deeper,…
A Night Well Spent
My cousin and her husband arrived to stay the night and we’ve been chatting. They’re visiting from Washington state and spent the past week…
A Frog’s Patootie
In a miserable mood, I told Dave, “The only answer is to go for a run.” I’d missed the pre-work, 65-degree, shaded morning cool,…
The Act of Notting
I want this day to last longer. To watch the crows’ about-face strut to eat peanuts in the yard, to plant tomatoes, to browse…
Around the World
The sting of the higher price tag is replaced by euphoria. A power tool with real power—the cord whipping at what feels like a…
For the Love of Breathing
Placing a chair back in its place on the front porch at the day’s end, I saw a phone’s light bobbing through the lawn.…
Hi
🙂 Love, Jaclynn
A Fairy Godmother Appears
Thanks to the attendant of Universal Studios’ Trollercoaster, our ease and enjoyment of the park went up by two notches. After overhearing Evelyn say…
An Invitation to Grow
I tend to juggle too many balls. It’s no wonder I feel resentful or disengage when a request comes my way. How dare someone…
Doing Disney Our Way
“Bippity Boppity Broke.”“Happy Never After.” Just a couple of the less-than-magical t-shirts I spotted around the Disney parks yesterday and today—on dads, no less.…
A Day in Pictures
Love, Jaclynn
Magic Eve Night
Evelyn’s made a friend from Louisiana, which feels fitting, since we’re staying at Port Orleans, a Mardi Gras, bayou-themed resort. It’s lush here, with…
Spit Happens
I love staying in Airbnbs. They inspire me. The flickering solar light hung on a post, the purple-and-mustard painted pallets, the cartoon alpaca bedsheets—all…
Pre-Check Check
Holy cannoli, I’m on vacation. I mean, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. I had my last session of the week, so technically I’ve…
So Long, Farewell…Almost
Ever on the hunt for LPs at dirt-cheap—or even “here, just take this”—prices, Dave and I dug into the website Millions of Records. We…
It’s Not a Tumor
Dang it, guys. I’ve done it again—left this until the last minute so I have to rush. It’s my couch time, and something about…
One Stroke Under Par
I feel subpar. The measurement comes from a shadowy figure that jumps out at me while I’m doing the most ordinary things—gardening, laundry, work…
“Draw Me Duck”
I fit the pieces together like a puzzle—the hidden drawing, the tear falling from its eye, the upside-down “u” frown for a mouth, and…
Stages of a Run
During the ups and downs and in-betweens of my 3.1-mile run today, I found myself fascinated by the mental stages I fall in and…
Waiting For the Call
Potential recruits for professional sports teams are often streamed live as they await the call. You’ve seen the videos—I’ve seen the videos—the whole family…
The Art of Not
I stare a little too hard at the white glow of the neon sign that reads, “Let’s get naked,” as the not-quite-scalding bath water…
A Poem
Not in the mood Cuz I got a ‘tude Don’t mean to be rude But this post I will conclude Love, Jaclynn
Sliding into Home
I swear the butt cream made me do it. A sentence likely uttered once or twice in humanity’s time on Earth. So, hear me…
Free Bees For All
I feel whooped. Purposefully keeping a low-to-moderate schedule means freedom and flexibility are prioritized—until recently, when Evelyn’s baseball practice and Cub Scouts added three…
My Precious Friend
Perimenopause is a buzzword and a hot topic for my age and sex demographic. For all that’s known about it, for the one potentially…
Usually It Is
I’m discombobulated. Toilet paper is strung from the sole of my foot, my shirt’s on backward, and I’ve got black eyeliner streaming down my…
Where the Wisteria Blooms
The hummers are back, the hummers are back! The thought registered seconds after I watched the darting, mini narwhal-nosed flier poke in and out…
From Grit to Glisten
A wet rag in hand, I grip the black front porch rail, wiping away the greenish-yellow, Ghostbusters-slime-colored pollen. Maybe it’s the color—the vibrance of…
Make It To The Sign
Running has become an obsession. I love it. Not every single second, mind you, but the moments just after a strenuous hill or a…
Back to Square One
I find myself pondering the softness of the average Georgian when it comes to weather. It confounds me. I hate to be an “in…
Into the Unknown
My bird feeder and birdhouse game is lacking. The Eastern bluebird male and female pair are no longer okay with a seedy motel—they want…
A Softer Way Forward
Since training diligently for the half-marathon in October, I’ve trudged. I’ve slodged. I’ve begged and pleaded my body forward. Watching videos on running posture—and…
Small Town Saturdays
Evelyn participated in the Pinewood Derby—her first-ever Scouts activity. It’s the longest-running and most iconic Scout event, starting back in 1953. Her third-place finish…
The Rights of Jaclynn
There’s this epic cloud parting—Julie Andrews frolicking through the meadows, “The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music” swelling in the background—that’s what…
The Cost of Not Knowing
You know that feeling when you can’t quite catch your breath? Not in the deep, satisfying, fill-your-lungs-all-the-way kind of way, but the opposite. Like…
Blowing in the Wind
You know how to skip, right? Just lift one knee and hop on the opposite leg. That lift-hop motion that you alternate—it turns out…
Learning How to Run
I’m reclaiming my space. Well, it’s not completely my space—I do live with other human beings who have their claims on it too—but let’s…
Evenings at Our House
I need two décor items that’ll sit on the left and right sides of the squared-out fireplace hole. Right now, there are two pillow…
Bring Me A Dream
I think everything’s good. Besides a mini fire ant ambush—the sizzling hot bites that lead to pus-filled mounds that ache for days—I’m not a…
Hoppy Day
The unlikeliest of pairs. Love, Jaclynn
The Dock of the Bay
I’m sitting on the floor of the garage. The door to the house is open, and one of the cats is exploring. It’s been…
The Fox in the Den
I feel pressure to be superhuman. Mostly from other people. When sometimes, just putting one foot in front of the other, paying a bill,…
Not About That Line Life
In the mornings, our household ambles. We saunter and shuffle, and get pulled into mini river eddies. We drink coffee for an hour, lay…
Because I Feel Like It
“I stumble into shame…” is what I was going to say — before I was rudely interrupted by an alarm-level thought that I needed…
If You Build It
Inadvertently, I pulled up a stunted azalea from the sandy circle at the center of the driveway. I’d planted it over a year ago,…
Lean Into It
Growing up in the country as a young whippersnapper, I loved summer nights. I’d lie awake and listen to the frogs in the pond…
Runner’s High Membership
I looked down at my Apple Watch, the screen bouncing like I was unbuckled on an off-roading ATV. It took three glances to see…
Rain Check Por Favor
I’m going to reschedule our time together for tomorrow if you don’t mind. Love, Jaclynn
Don’t Stop Believin’
I choose stocks I believe in. Not like the Jesus-or-Santa-Claus belief, but like the “my Seattle Seahawks would win the Super Bowl” belief. Spoiler: they did.Also,…
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