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melted smoosh

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between high school and college, I spent a memorable gap year in gorgeous British Columbia, at Capernwray Harbour Bible Centre on Thetis Island. here are some highlights!

Christmas as a grownup

the sea, myself, and I

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whine and cheese (2024 edition)

it's about time for a good old airing of the grievances. while we have ever so much for which to give thanks, sometimes we need the catharsis of enumerating our woes, big and small. (you can read the 2023 edition here.) _________________________________________ first up, potty training. I buckled down and trained Greta and Cecilia both around age 2 1/2, and it went fairly well (I'm a big fan of waiting until the kid is practically ready to train themselves). Elizabeth turned 2 1/2 near the end of the school year, and logically it seemed like a great time to buckle down -- we wouldn't be driving around to after school sports and activities and we'd have more time at home. I kept waiting for the day when I'd wake up full of excitement and motivation to strip off the diaper and chase a naked toddler around the house. and ... shockingly ... that day never came. then we were preparing for our trip to Seattle in July and it definitely didn't seem like the right time...

August highlights, Part 1 {zoo, around home, Idlewild, birthday bash, aviary}

1) Zoo. we picked a scorcher of a day to go to the zoo with friends! I can't actually remember if we went to the zoo at all last year (when Victoria was a newborn). in any case, Elizabeth was definitely far more interested in pointing out the animals than she had been the last time. striking their best explorer pose Greta is as tall as an adult female black rhino! she was obsessed with the anteater our friends headed home and we decided to circle back to see a few animals we'd missed the first time around. we ended up getting caught in torrential downpours and had to seek shelter by the cheetah enclosure for a while. but I'm glad we came back because we got to see the funniest shenanigans between the baby gorilla and his dad playing chase! another good place to wait out the rain -- hanging out with the sea lions. 2) Around home. Victoria and Elizabeth are having so much fun playing together (well, at some point it devolves into fighting and scratching, but still! they...

what's good for the goose {my first foray into therapy}

sitting outside the new independent coffee shop that opened in the neighborhood this summer as a physician assistant with an undergraduate minor in psychology, I've always been fascinated by the connection between the mind and the body. that interest serves me well in my chosen specialty of primary care/internal medicine, as mental health comes to bear so frequently on physical, or somatic, complaints like fatigue, upset stomach, and dizziness. in any given day, I'll typically have one or two appointments that are scheduled specifically so someone can address their anxiety or depression, and it often comes up as a subject of conversation during routine physicals. I have probably recommended therapy to my patients literally thousands of times, whether it's to deal with an isolated situational stress or grief, or more pervasive issues like OCD, chronic insomnia, bipolar disorder, depression, or borderline personality disorder. when we're discussing starting antidepressant...