soft heart, heavy mind

About

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About Me

Veteran. Stay-at-home mother. Every day, becoming.

Life humbled me more than once. Some lessons arrived with consequences. But glory, glory…my God remained faithful through each and every chapter. Hallelujah! Gather round y’all, we got some talking to do.

Wind blowing sand across a beach near ocean waves at twilight — archives of an unfinished story…

The Story So Far

For years, I filled notebooks with thoughts I always felt but never expected to reveal to the world, much less the damn internet. But, I digress. Every page was written for me. The pages served as a place to think, process, question, grieve, celebrate, and make sense of life as it happened.

But somewhere along the way, I realized it was deeper than journaling. They had become a record of my being. A collection of lessons, mistakes, victories, heartbreaks, hope, humor, and growth spread across different seasons of life. So rather than letting them collect dust, I’ve decided to preserve them here. These are simply the pages that got me here. The rest are still being written.

Read story

A refrigerator door in photographic realism, covered with a chaotic collage of crayon drawings, school notices, appointment reminder cards, and a single, neatly typed therapy appointment card pinned dead center with a red magnet. The stainless steel surface is slightly smudged with fingerprints and tiny food splatters. Overhead kitchen lighting casts soft, warm reflections on the metal, while a sliver of cool late-evening light spills in from an unseen window, adding a subtle contrast. Shot straight on with a tight, centered composition and moderate depth of field, the background kitchen fades into a gentle blur. The mood is bold, honest, and bittersweet, capturing the tension between everyday family life and the heavy, unspoken undercurrents beneath it.

A cozy but cluttered living room in photographic realism, dominated by an overstuffed gray couch sagging in the middle, its cushions indented and covered with mismatched throw blankets and a single small, milk-stained onesie draped over the arm. The coffee table is scattered with sticky sippy cups, cold coffee, and a stack of parenting books with worn corners and sarcastic titles. Outside the window, a rainy, overcast sky diffuses soft, cool light into the room, casting gentle, moody shadows. Shot from a slightly elevated angle with a balanced composition, the scene feels honest and lived-in, capturing the darkly humorous exhaustion and resilience of everyday motherhood without sentimentality.

A stark yet comforting bathroom scene in photographic realism: a deep white porcelain bathtub half-filled with slightly cloudy water, a scattering of colorful plastic bath toys floating near the surface. On the cool tiled floor, a neatly folded dark gray towel sits beside a nearly empty bottle of bubble bath and a small glass of red wine leaving a faint ring. Above, a single overhead light and the glow from a cracked doorway cast warm, contrasting pools of light and shadow, illuminating subtle water ripples. Shot from a low, side angle, the tub’s edge leads the viewer’s eye into the frame, capturing a mood of stolen solitude, dark humor, and quiet defiance in the middle of chaos.

An unmade bed with crumpled, off-white cotton sheets and a single faded floral comforter pushed to one side, bathed in the harsh contrast of early morning light slicing through partially open blackout curtains. On one side of the bed, a small, threadbare stuffed animal lies tangled with a baby blanket and a baby bottle tipped on its side, a ring of dried milk circling the nightstand. On the other side, a stack of closed, dog-eared paperback novels leans next to a dim digital alarm clock showing 3:17 a.m. Photographic realism, shot from above with a wide frame that leaves pockets of shadow at the edges, creating a raw, vulnerable, emotionally heavy atmosphere that suggests sleepless nights and hard-won survival.

Motherhood, Unfiltered, Together

Join me

A well-worn hardcover journal with a cracked leather spine and dog-eared pages lies open on a scuffed wooden kitchen table, crumbs and a half-finished mug of coffee nearby. A single baby monitor glows softly in the background beside a sink full of unwashed dishes, all rendered in crisp photographic realism. Late afternoon light slants through half-closed blinds, carving bold stripes of shadow across the pages and highlighting scribbled notes, crossed-out sentences, and a hastily tucked-in hospital bracelet. Shot at eye level using a shallow depth of field, the journal is sharply in focus while the chaotic kitchen blurs into bokeh, creating a raw, honest atmosphere that feels both intimate and unvarnished.