Thursday Thoughts - Seem like the whole world walking pretty and you can't find the room to move

Purging: Dresses, and a bin in my bedroom that I've ignored for an eternity.

Painting my nails OPI Cajun Shrimp

Reading:  Tear Me Apart by J.T. Ellison c/o netgalley. My Amazon First choice this month is I Will Never Leave You by S.M. Thayer and my Book of the Month Club choice this month is nothing although I'm intrigued that they categorized one of the choices as Appalachian Noir. I wasn't aware that was a thing, but since it is, it's certainly a thing for me. One of my favorites that would fit in that category that I own is Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell.

Anticipating: A two day work week next week. I'm at the shore Monday and Tuesday and at the lake for girls' weekend Friday so this cookie has crumbled in a wonderful way for me. I can't wait to see how Bruce Springsteen likes the lake. 

Wanting this ceramic Christmas tree nightlight to add to my ceramic tree collection.

Lagging behind on everything except work work, which is the most important in the grand scheme of things. Housework, laundry, shore rental stuff, emails, texts, replies, etc. I am at least a day but likely two to five days behind. 

Thanking you all for your kind words and thoughts on the substance abuse/sobriety/addiction stigma piece I published on Tuesday. My oldest and dearest friend Jen commented on Instagram that over the 38 years she's known me she's always thought one of my best qualities is my ability to never falter from genuinely and un-apologetically doing me exactly how I have felt best. I've never heard it put like that before, but after thinking about it, that is how I live every day. Publishing this pulsating, personal piece at a time when it could most be used against my family is an example of exactly that. Because fuck people who would stigmatize addiction and use it against MFD or me - the amount of people who reached out to me privately to share something of their own experience was staggering but sadly not surprising. It lets me know pushing publish was the right thing to do and that, as Rachael said, now was the right time to do it even though it is the most vulnerable time to do it.  People are out there suffering and if we can help ease that, that is what we are going to do - not worry more about how it presents politically. When MFD decided to run for office, I said the only way you can do this is if you can be who you are, not a whitewashed version of yourself. Despite many "advisers" telling him to be cleaner/better/more polished/more buttoned up/less passionate/less open/more toned down, that's what he's doing. And it sure as shit is what I'm doing because I'm not compromising my own truth for a damn thing or person. We're out here open about who we are and what we've been through because otherwise, what is the fucking point? We are here to help each other as human beings, period. I hope I've started a conversation that will continue because that is how we will reduce the stigma together. 

Recovering from putting in the emotional labor. 

Wishing our BFF Evan a happy birthday. He's in Italy, I'm sure it won't be unhappy.

Wondering where July went. Who Kiki is. When I will finally address the clutter in the basement. How to make Bruce stop before he drops. What will make me interested in food prep again. 

Raging over the people attacking and harassing Shaun King and his family (read his wife's statement), a direct result - no, repercussion - of his pursuit of fairness and equality. When people are too woke and become too powerful, they are targeted. As people who support his work, we can't do much but we need to know this is out there happening to people.

Reminding us all:

E-carding: 

What's new with you?

Linking up with Kristen