Please pardon the dust.
  I’m under construction and so is this website. If you run into issues, shoot me a note at [email protected].

emerging from
the shadows

stories of mental health, CHILDHOOD trauma, AND survivorship

new words

13: About Number 3

Number 3 is still above ground, living in my father’s home with her adult son. She has a daughter that lives nearby.   Number 3 follows Mick’s typical prototype of dark haired, short women. He was nothing if not predictable. Though I do remember him telling me he’d like to

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12: Number 3

Characters in life are usually easily categorized, and those in my narrative are not really different.  Most live in a dichotomous world of good or bad, fall into an active or passive role, and they either offer up life lessons or are vapid because they add little to the overall

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what to know

This is a space in evolution.  Stories are tagged based upon their content and new tags are constantly being added, which means the tagging system is still evolving. This site is about surviving trauma, so please read with that context in mind.  Some stories are lighter than others, but the entire site is about living life shaped by what others have done to us. Victim shaming, hate speech, discrimination in any type, and political posts will be removed immediately and the user blocked.

hello & welcome

You can call me Stuart

I’m a wife, mom, and writer. Dog mom. Lover of heirloom tomatoes and cats. Disliker of humidity. Words are my first love and they help me make sense of the world. I have a ton to say about this journey though life, parenting teens, experiencing perimenopause, and grappling with mental health issues. Oh, and aging. Because its fun pulling a muscle in your sleep. Join me as I navigate this world. And drink coffee…a lot of coffee.

xoxo,

Today & etcetera

Today-ish

July 10, 2025

This whole trauma, childhood abuse, cPTSD thing is hard.  Backbreaking. The only thing that gets me through is writing. Take a read, maybe it will make you feel less alone or help you understand someone that struggles. 

Elephants in Rooms

The human brain is remarkable. Ask anyone and you’ll get the same reply and it doesn’t matter their age, religion, gender, politics, nationality, or race. The best science can tell us is that it is extremely complex, but the establishment cannot elaborate on the intricacies behind the brain’s why or how. Humanity is still on the earliest frontier of understanding what our heads can accomplish and what makes humans…human.

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