Getting trapped in my attic while looking for Christmas boxes became the perfect metaphor for the depression I'd been hiding from my fiancé. Sometimes asking for help is the only way down.
Relationships
Ice Skating at the National Gallery Taught Me I’ve Been Bracing for Falls My Whole Life
Charming and I skated The Mall in D.C., but I kept tensing for the fall that never came. After 15 years of fierce independence, I decorate Christmas trees alone and skate like I live—bracing for impact. Maybe learning to trust a teammate is just another grammar rule worth breaking.
Duck Beach Dreams: When Childhood Expectations Meet Marriage Reality
At the Outer Banks beach house where Charming vacationed as a child, I realized I'd been planning my future children's lives based on my own childhood. Sometimes home isn't a place—it's a person.
Living with ADHD While Planning a Wedding: Why I Can’t Focus
Save the Date cards sit unfinished while my mind jumps between yearbook deadlines and Charming's need for attention. Sometimes being newly diagnosed with ADHD explains everything—and complicates everything else.
From Fort Monroe Beach to Duck Methodist Church: Finding Our Perfect Wedding
Charming proposed again with my real ring on a pier in the Outer Banks, then we found the white church with a steeple I'd dreamed of since childhood. Sometimes God writes fairy tale endings in the most perfect settings.
Surviving Hurricane Season: When Teaching and Wedding Planning Collide
Engaged to my dream man but drowning in Homecoming prep and yearbook deadlines. Sometimes life's best stories require weathering multiple storms at once.
Why I Stopped Waiting for My Life to Begin: Lessons from an Engagement
When you realize you want to spend forever with someone, you want forever to start now. But what if the waiting room is actually part of the gift?
The Fort Monroe Beach Proposal: When Prince Charming Finally Gets Down on One Knee
After two years of waiting and wondering, Charming surprised me with a fairy tale proposal at my favorite beach. Here's the story of glass slippers, horse-drawn carriages, and finally getting my happily ever after.
The Goo Goo Dolls and the Decision That Changed Everything
At a concert singing 'Iris,' I knew I loved him. The next day, he left town with no promises. Sometimes love means saying yes to uncertainty.
When Love Isn’t About Timing: Four Days Without Prince Charming
I broke up with Charming over our timing conflict—I'm ready for marriage, he's not. But driving away in a storm, God ministered to me through worship music. Is he worth the wait?
Writer's Growth 