Posted on by Katie

Welcome to puberty, kid

Today B found his first zit. He said, “I guess I’m in puberty now.” Yeah, that and the need for deodorant are a good clue.

Then he asked when I had my first zit, and I honestly have no idea. Then: “When did you have your last zit?” Me: “Uh, right now?!” Welcome to having that “youthful” skin, kiddo.

I still maintain that the biggest lie my mom ever told me was when 16-year-old Katie moaned, “How long will I have to live with zits like this?” and she said, “Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be done by your 20s.” I should’ve known something was up, because she still got zits at that point. Continue Reading >>

Posted on by Katie

Benji in a pot

I know I’ve posted infrequently lately. It’s not because nothing is happening. Au contraire, so much has happened, I am barely beginning to process it. Every time I try to talk about something else, all this pain just gushes out like blood from an arterial puncture. I haven’t wanted to get bloodstains on my blog, so I’ve been keeping it offline. I’ll continue to do that, but I did want to put up a post to say hi, and I’m still alive, and maybe at some point I’ll get back to posting regularly. Continue Reading >>

Posted on by Katie

Brackett’s Landing on a blustery fall day

We’ve been having some seasonally exciting weather experiences — wind and rain, darkness, and a general sense of coziness at being inside without yet feeling cooped up. On Sunday, Benji, Mom, Dad, and I decided to go enjoy the dramatic wind and rain at the beach. Here’s some pictures of that little adventure.

Brackett's Landing
The tide was just about at the peak high, and it was up 12 feet from normal. Hardly any beach to be had!
Benji in Driftwood House
Someone built a very sturdy driftwood house, which Benji confirmed fit at least a nine-year-old.
Brackett's Landing Rainbow
To our astonishment, the rain tapered off as we approached the coast. On the beach, it wasn’t raining at all on us — but we enjoyed the benefits of someone else being rained on, with some very nice rainbow views.
Katie & Benji at Brackett's Landing
Uh, yeah. No comment.
Benji & Nana in Edmonds
Benji and my mom have a heart-to-heart.

I didn’t take a picture of this, but three coal trains also went by. We counted cars, and two of them had 106 cars, including engines. That’s a long train.

And a couple quasi-art eye pictures. Continue Reading >>

Posted on by Katie

First week in the apartment with Benji

This week marked the first week Benji joined me in my new apartment. I’ll be honest: I felt deeply apprehensive. I’d done weeks with him before, but at my parents’ house, where things were familiar and, worst comes to worst, there’s other adults around. This was the first time I’d really be 100% flying solo with him.

Sunday night, I put him to bed and he came in twice – once to “get help falling asleep,” and once to adjust his nightlight. After I finished up with him the second time, this huge wave of feeling overwhelmed washed over me. How was I going to do this?! Continue Reading >>

Posted on by Katie

Candy-themed frozen yogurt

After school on Thursday, I took Benji clothes and shoe shopping. To overcome his initial resistance, I pretty unashamedly bribed him with the promise of frozen yogurt if he cooperated. One very cooperative shopping trip later, we found ourselves at the Menchie’s in Bothell surveying the available flavors.

I’m going to try to report Benji’s frozen yogurt mix without any obvious bias. He selected toasted marshmallow and cookies & cream frozen yogurt plus a dab of Swedish fish sorbet, topped with gummy worms and Sour Patch Kids. Continue Reading >>

Posted on by Katie · 2 Comments

Not everything is forever

Let’s cut to the chase: I’m divorcing Ian.

For this post, in the interest of balance and because this topic so deeply impacts both of us, Ian and are each going to share our perspectives.

Katie

Now for some context, without getting into unnecessary detail. Despite uncountable hours of marriage and individual therapy, we got to a point where I couldn’t envision living the rest of my life in our marriage. It took me a long time to accept that I needed to take this step, and I’m not doing it because I hate Ian — I don’t. Continue Reading >>

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Ohanapecosh Camping 2021

If I had to subtitle this blog post, I’d probably say: “Astonishingly timely.” Because in real life a pile of poop just hit a fan, and having two nights away with no cell phone reception to process everything was just what the doctor would’ve ordered.

But hey, instead of getting into all that, let’s go all social media-style and I’ll show you a bunch of smiling, happy pictures from our two-night stay at Ohanapecosh on Mt. Rainier.

In addition to me and Benji, my sister Colleen and her husband Jordan flew up from LA for this trip, and Dad joined us. We arrived on Tuesday midday and spent Tuesday and Wednesday night, leaving on Thursday morning. Continue Reading >>